Company stops former employee soliciting its clients
The case involved an employee who had been a senior manager and associate director of the company. In October 2012, he was told that he was no longer a senior manager but could continue as an associate director. He would keep his salary and receive an enhanced employer pension contribution rate of 4%. He found…
Fall in property prices foreseeable so consultants liable for damages
The case involved a farmer who obtained planning permission to build houses on a field next to an A road in 2006. He engaged a firm of consultants to design a service road and drainage system which would meet with local authority approval. It was a requirement of the contract that the work should be…
Glass Manufacturer granted injunction to protect design rights
The court heard that Utopia Tableware Ltd had registered and unregistered design rights over its Aspen range of glasses, which were characterised by being tall and having a narrow waist towards the centre. The glasses were used by some major brewing companies. Utopia objected when another manufacturer started producing glasses which were very similar in…
Estate agents fined for breaching money laundering regulations
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) took action against the Leicester-based IPS Estate Agents Ltd after it breached a number of the requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. The OFT said the failings related to verifying the identity of customers, keeping appropriate records and ensuring that relevant staff were aware of the law relating…
Agency wins case against former employee’s rival business
The employee had worked for the agency as a booker responsible for hiring models. His contract of employment restrained him from engaging in competition with the agency during his employment. He was also prevented from soliciting the agency’s employees or models for 12 months after terminating his contract, and from disclosing any of the agency’s…
New adjucicator to protect supermarket suppliers
The adjudicator will be responsible for enforcing the Groceries Code, which was put in place by the Competition Commission in 2008. It applies to the 10 retailers with a turnover in the groceries market in excess of £1bn. The code obliges retailers to comply with several requirements including: dealing fairly and lawfully with their suppliers;…
Premium 90-day patent application service to be introduced
There will also be a faster trademarks service which will provide a full examination report in five days instead of the current 10 days. The changes, which will be introduced by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), were announced in a speech by the Business Secretary Vince Cable. He said there would also be a range…
Failure to specify currency exchange rate proves costly
Confusion over these issues can prove costly, as one firm discovered in a recent case before the Court of Appeal. The case involved the sale of various goods together with industrial plants in Manchester and Orleans in France. The contract stipulated that payment was to be made in sterling in relation to products shipped from…
One in, two out plan to cut red tape for business
Business Minister Michael Fallon said that from January 2013, every new regulation that imposes a financial burden on a company will be offset by reductions in red tape that will save double those costs. Currently there is a ‘One-in, One-out’ rule that applies to all domestic regulation affecting business and voluntary organisations. It ensures that…
Council fined £120,000 for data protection breach
In a recent case, Stoke-on-Trent Council was fined £120,000 after one of its employees emailed sensitive information about a child protection case to the wrong person. An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the employee breached the council’s guidance policy which stated that sensitive information should be encrypted or sent over a…
Licensees to help pay cost of alcohol related disorder
The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 gives local authorities more discretionary power to restrict the sale of alcohol. They will also be able to make late night bars help with the cost of cleaning up and policing the effects of excessive drinking. Alcohol related crime and disorder costs the country £11billion a year….
New wave of entrepreneurs create 300,000 businesses
The number rose from 4.5million at the beginning of 2011 to a record 4.8million at the start of 2012. Those 4.8 million businesses employ an estimated 23.9 million people and have an estimated turnover of £3,100 billion. Many of the new businesses have been set up by people who lost their jobs during the recession…
Government to reduce health and safety regulations
There are more than 6,500 regulations that the Government inherited through the Red Tape Challenge Process. They intend to scrap more than 3,000. One of the key changes involves health and safety inspections. Businesses such as shops, offices, pubs and clubs will only face inspections if they have a track record of poor performance. Only…
Company awarded £50,000 compensation from former director
The case was brought by a security company against its former business development director. The director’s contract had contained a restrictive covenant stating that if he left, he would not set up a rival firm or solicit business from the security company’s current customers for a period of six months. However, just one day after…
Scrapping restrictions could help shops and new businesses
Ministers want to make it easier for new ‘pop-up’ shops to use vacant high street premises until a more permanent tenant can be found. Under the current system, there are planning rules that restrict the kinds of business that can use high street shop units. A Government statement says: “The proposals would scale back the…
Company wins injunction against former employee
The employee had left Churchill Retirement Living Ltd to work for a rival company called McCarthy & Stone Retirement Lifestyles Ltd. While working for Churchill, the employee was subject to contractual duties relating to the company’s confidential information and documents. He admitted that when he left Churchill, he had accessed certain confidential documents and taken…
Law Club Live Seminar: ‘Employment issues in 2012’
In most industries, employees are the determinants of a productive, successful company. In the next session of our popular Law Club Law CLub Live seminars, we will be focusing on the risks, responsibilities and rewards of Employment, that will lead to a greater understanding of what most firms would consider their most prized asset. The…
Changes to consultation process during large scale redundancies
Under the current rules, companies must consult with their employees for 90 days if there are likely to be large scale redundancies involving more than 100 employees. Employment Relations Minister Norman Lamb wants to shorten this consultation period and improve communication between managers and staff. He believes that would reduce uncertainty for workers and make…
Large companies to report on greenhouse gas emissions
All companies listed on the Main Market of the Stock Exchange will have to report from April next year. This will be reviewed in 2015 with a view to extending the rules to all large companies from 2016. The aim of the reports is to enable investors to see which companies are effectively managing hidden…
New measures to make international patent applications faster
The changes affect the UK’s fast track system and will allow applicants to make changes to an international application while still being able to request accelerated processing in the UK. The IPO says this will remove a bureaucratic hurdle and increase the flexibility of the patent application process. The changes are part of a wider…
£100m to help small building firms restart developments
The money is on offer through the Get Britain Building fund, which was introduced last year to help firms resume work on projects that had ground to a halt through lack of funding. Previously, firms had to have plans for at least 25 homes on their sites to qualify for the funding. Now the limit…
Protecting your business with restrictive covenants
If the conditions are not strict enough, they may not prevent the employee setting up a rival enterprise or helping a rival firm; if they are too strict, they may not be enforceable, as in a recent case before the High Court. The case involved an online bicycle retailer. It employed a merchandiser who was…
Most middle managers are ‘unaware of Bribery Act’
This is in spite of the fact that the Act came into effect in July 2011. The researchers also found that of the 28% of middle managers who had heard of the Act, only just over half felt they had received adequate training to ensurecompliance. John Smart, a partner at Ernst & Young said: “It…
Director and shareholder in contempt of court after selling assets
The case involved an agency that sold car breakdown policies on behalf of an insurance company. The insurers came to believe that the agency had not accounted fully to it for its premiums and had provided false information. It began legal proceedings and obtained an interim injunction preventing the agency from disposing of its assets….
Developer must repay deposits after contract breach
However, it was not the delay itself that caused the problem, but the lack of due diligence in failing to get the work done as quickly as possible after problems arose. In February 2008, the developer took deposits from several people buying long leases on flats in a large apartment block. The flats were due…
Delay proves costly for company seeking damages
The company had hired a firm of builders to carry out some roofing and cladding works at a new factory. A contract was agreed which stated that in the event of a dispute, no action could be taken after the expiry of a one-year period from when the builders last performed any services. The work…
Insurers get injunction against rival firm set up by employees
The court found that the group had committed numerous breaches of their employment contracts and fiduciary duty. They enticed others to resign and also used confidential company information while still employees. The insurers claimed that the launch of the rival business was only possiblebecause the employees had breached and abused their employment contracts on several…
Would you like to set up your own business?
The ‘Business in You’ campaign highlights the support available for people wishing to start a new business or develop an existing one. A statement from the Department for Business Innovation & Skills says: “Small businesses are the lifeblood of the British economy. Here we find the people with unusual and inspiring ideas, people who have…
PM wants to ‘kill off health and safety culture
He says he wants to address “the fear from businesses of being sued for trivial or excessive claims”. The Government is now planning to change the law on strict liability so that businesses will no longer be automatically at fault if something goes wrong. It will also investigate the demands made by insurance companies which…
Sales manager breached his duty when setting up rival company
The manager was working for an information technology consultancy when he decided to set up a new company of his own. While preparing his new venture, he downloaded some of his employer’s business contacts and copied invoices in order to use them for his own purposes. He also obtained contracts for his new company while…
When a letter can amount to a written contract
The case arose after the architects agreed to carry out consultancy services for a local authority under a framework agreement. The work was to be carried out in two stages. The first stage was completed without incident but there was a disagreement about fees for the second stage. The architects claimed they were entitled to…
Developers must pay extra after selling land cheap
The developers bought the land from the authority with a view to creating abusiness park. The authority retained a share in the open market value of theland, which meant an uplift was payable if the developers disposed of the landby sale or lease, or if they wanted to buy out the authority’s share. The developers…
Common sense should apply when interpreting business contracts
Delivering the ruling, Lord Clarke said: “If there are two possible constructions, the court is entitled to prefer the construction which is consistent with business common sense and to reject the other.” The issue arose in the case of six separate companies that had each contracted to buy a ship for $33m from a Korean…
Government calls time on unfair practices that restrict pubs
The proposals have been put forward by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and are in response to the Select Committee’s Report on Pub Companies. They set out the details of a strengthened, legally binding Industry Code which it’s hoped will improve the relationship between pub companies and licensees. A BIS statement highlighted…
Directors disqualified after failing to keep company records
The company was placed in administration in 2009 with an estimated deficiency of £1.3m. It was then investigated by the Insolvency Service which was unable to find any of the cars listed on the company’s books. The case went to Crewe County Court, which found that the directors had failed to ensure that the company…
New proposals to allow more firms to avoid audits
EU regulations list three criteria by which firms can be regarded as small for accounting purposes. These are: no more than 50 employees balance sheet total no more than £3.26m no more than £6.5m in turnover To obtain an exemption in the UK, companies must currently fulfil both the balance sheet and turnover criteria. The…
When shareholders fall out and refuse to meet …
The issue arose in a case involving a taxi firm that had two shareholders who were also both directors. The minority shareholder played no active part in the business but her husband worked as the accounts manager. The majority shareholder discovered that the accounts manager was withdrawing money on a monthly basis without authorisation. He…
Accountant must pay for enticing away former clients
For this reason, most firms will insist on a covenant preventing the seller from setting up a rival business or soliciting his former customers for a specified period. The value of this approach was illustrated in a recent case before the High Court. It involved an accountant who decided to sell his business. The buyer…
Businesses failing to protect themselves against late payers
A survey of ICM members found that a quarter of them don’t use the payment performance data provided by B2B credit reference reports. Researchers also found that two thirds of businesses don’t share payment performance data about their customers with credit reference agencies. This is in spite of the fact that three quarters of them…
Contract terms means English company must apply Indian law
Failure to do so could prove costly, as one UK company recently discovered. The company entered into an agreement with an Indian supplier to provide it with condoms to be sold in the UK. It was part of the company’s standard terms and conditions that disputes with foreign partners should be settled under English law….
Surge in number of firms facing critical difficulties
The Red Flag Report produced by Begbies Traynor shows that 186,554 UK businesses were experiencing significant or critical financial problems in the first quarter of this year. That was a 15% increase on the same period in 2010. Sectors that are dependent on discretionary spending were the worst affected. Taken year on year, the number…
Penalties imposed on construction firms ‘were too harsh’
The Tribunal said it was important to make a distinction between simple cover pricing and bid rigging, which is much more serious. Bid rigging involved firms joining forces as a cartel in order to enable one of them to win a contract at a lucrative rate. Cover pricing was less damaging. It usually happened when…