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Until now, the general approach has been that a company cannot claim privilege against its own shareholder, so that a shareholder is entitled to see otherwise confidential company documents – such as legal correspondence. However, in the recent...
Our litigation team recently assisted clients in settling a prickly ongoing property and will-related dispute via a Financial Dispute Resolution hearing at court. Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR), while often seen in family proceedings, is now being...
In a recent case a director was removed from office and excluded from management. The court had to consider whether the conduct was unfairly prejudicial for the purposes of section 994 of the Companies Act 2006. Background Mr Hashmi, Mr Gilbert...
A company in deadlock is usually a company on the brink of insolvency. The impact on employees, directors and shareholders can be huge. Navigating a deadlock situation and deciding on the best way to respond requires specialist advice. Our corporate dispute...
If you are a shareholder of a company and have concerns about how the directors are running it, you might want to remove those directors from office. There are a number of ways a director can be removed and it is important to seek specialist legal advice...
In a recent case, the claimants alleged they had sold their shares to the defendant under a sale and purchase agreement (“ SPA ”) in return for an immediate cash payment plus three potential earn-out payments. The defendant denied there was any...
Families often go into business together. Sometimes the combination of family and business works well and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, one party might say “you’re my father/mother/brother etc”, “you promised...
Following a successful mediation last Tuesday (a Settlement Agreement was signed by around 7pm), I reflected generally on what the controllables are that one can control, or at least try to control, as a mediation advocate and as the solicitor representing...
The recent case of Whittle v Whittle indicates that poisoning a potential testator’s mind against another beneficiary by casting dishonest aspersions upon his or her character, where the person making the aspersions either knows them to be...
Just because a shareholder doesn’t like how the company is being managed doesn’t mean the court will make a finding of unfair prejudice. In Primekings Holding Limited v Anthony King [2021] EWCA Civ 1943 the Court of Appeal...
In a recent case the Court of Appeal considered whether a delay of 17 years in presenting an unfair prejudice petition was too long. Background Andrew Bailey presented a petition in respect of Cherry Hill Skip Hire Ltd (“ the Company ”). He...
The recent case of Haz International Ltd v Yesilkaya [2021] EWHC 1695 (Ch) highlights some of the key considerations of the court when a petitioner seeks a just and equitable winding up of a company. Facts Mr Il and Mr Yesilkaya were directors and...
The Insurance Act 2015 puts the duty on policyholders to provide a “ fair presentation of the risk ” to the insurer of entering the policy. This requires “ disclosure of every material circumstance which the insured knows or ought to know...
COVID-19 has taken its toll on a number of individuals and businesses, including their ability to pay rent. Whilst the government put moratoriums in place to protect tenants during the lockdowns, those moratoriums have now been lifted. Subject to...
Sometimes your tenants are not paying rent and you cannot afford to have them stay in the property when you need to pay the mortgage. Sometimes you simply want your property back. Whatever the reason, we can help find a solution to getting your tenants to...
Will formalities Under the Wills Act 1837, a Will must be signed by the testator in the presence of two independent witnesses who have no interest in the Will. The witnesses also sign the Will and each state their name, address and occupation. This...
The recent case of Re Macom GmbH (UK) Ltd [2021] EWHC 1661 (Ch) highlights the wide discretion of the court when considering unfair prejudice. Even when a court decides that a party’s conduct constitutes unfair prejudice, it does not always order a...
When oral evidence is not enough – the recent case of Re Electrical Control Installations Ltd [2021] (05 October 2021) highlights the importance of contemporaneous documentation to evidence unfairness in a successful petition under section 994 of the...
Our contentious probate solicitors are frequently asked to deal with disputes between executors and beneficiaries. Sometimes, beneficiaries are kept completely out of the loop by executors. On some occasions, more serious issues arise when executors show...
On 22 June 2021, we published a blog post about Labour MP Fabian Hamilton who had raised the issue of predatory marriages during Prime Minister’s Questions, calling on the government to reform this area of the law . This issue has now...
