Please take your original partnership agreement to an attorney to review to make sure first that the oral agreement does not violate it.  Then you need to make sure that their closing the business with out say your signature or written say so also did not violate the agreement.  Oral contracts are enforceable in New York but you can run in to a lot of snags, and you see here how that can be.  They seem to be trying to circumvent your oral agreement by reopening under a new name. And if your original agreement says "no oral modification" it could be an issue for you.  But if they closed the business with out properly following the procedure and including you then that could be a snag in your favor.  Please get help.  Good luck.