The High Court has ruled that the owner of a property was liable for council tax after the tenant renting it fled suddenly. At the end of 2016, there was a fire at the premises and it was discovered that it had been used for producing large quantities of cannabis. The tenant disappeared, having not
Morrisons supermarket chain may have to pay compensation to more than 5,000 of its staff after their confidential data was published online by an employee with a grudge. The Court of Appeal heard that Andrew Skelton had worked for Morrisons as an internal IT auditor. He developed a grudge against the company after being disciplined.
A director has been held personally liable to pay the full market value of products that had been supplied to her company shortly before it went into liquidation. The claim against the director arose from her company’s failure to pay for a cargo of sunflower oil sold to it by a supplier in October 2012.
A company director has won her legal fight to recover more than £2m that was misappropriated by her business partner who was also her brother. The couple were directors and shareholders of a company that owned a property operating as a restaurant. The restaurant ceased trading in 2017 and the property was put up for
A firm specialising in translation services has been awarded £142,000 damages after a rival company infringed its copyright by using similar website names to improve its search engine optimisation (SEO). The case involved Link Up Mitaka Ltd, which traded as the ‘TheBigWord,’ providing translation and interpretation services in the UK and across Europe. A rival
A small clothes firm with a turnover of just over £300,000 has won a trademark dispute with the sportswear giant Nike. Frank Industries, based in London, owns the UK and EU trademarks consisting of the letters LNDR. Its sports clothes are sold in stores like Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. In January 2018, Nike launched
When setting up a partnership it’s essential to have a written agreement outlining how the arrangement is going to work, even when dealing with close family members. Failure to have a firm agreement from the outset can lead to problems further down the line, as illustrated in a recent case before the High Court. It
The best way to incorporate terms as binding conditions is to express them in the contract – that was the advice of the Court of Appeal in a dispute between a large estate agency and one of its franchisees. The case involved C21 London Estates and Maurice MacNeill Iona Ltd. C21 was the master franchisor
Directors could soon be banned from running a business and face large fines if they dissolve their companies to avoid paying employees or making required pension contributions. The crackdown is part of government plans to safeguard workers, pensions and small suppliers when a company goes bust. Under the shake-up, bosses will face investigation if they
Royal Mail has been fined £50m for breaking competition law by abusing its dominant position in the postal delivery market. An investigation by the regulator Ofcom found that it discriminated against Whistl, one of its customers and its only major competitor delivering letters. The investigation followed a complaint by Whistl about changes Royal Mail made to its wholesale customers’