The Court of Appeal case of Dixon and another v Blindley Heath Investments Limited (2015) EWCA Civ 1023 is an interesting decision about what happens when a business (or its lawyers) prepare a set of legal documents, which are intended to govern the rights of the stakeholders in the business, but then the business ignores or forgets about those documents …
The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court case of Helme, Helme and Hidden Gem Jewellery (the “Claimants”) v Maher and Green (the “Defendants”) (2015) EWHC 3151 (IPEC) 2nd November 2015 (Bailii) is a cautionary tale about not documenting clearly the rights you do and do not want to grant to a prospective business partner. In this case, Mrs Helme and her daughter …
I always tell my clients that there is a defence of “fair comment” to claims of defamation of character. In other words, if you say something nasty but true about somebody, then it may have been mean-spirited of you to have said it, but at least the other party cannot sue you for defamation. The High Court case of Umeyor …
My reaction when company due diligence of a takeover target uncovers the application of R&D tax credits by the target, is typically one of wondering what is going to happen next and how big an issue it is going to be. All too often I see the news met by the knowing and weary shaking of accountancy and tax heads, …
Next time you are negotiating a contract with a business based in a country where English is not the first language, always try to put language in there which makes clear that the language of the Agreement is English and that in the event of any conflict between the English version and a translation, the English version will take precedence. …
I have noticed over the years, that the point in contract negotiations where the lawyers start talking about the force majeure clause often coincides with the point at which clients show the first serious signs of losing the will to live. And yet (strange but true) if a force majeure clause does not meet the business needs of one or …
Indemnities (like industrial strength cleaners) have their place in the world, but (also like industrial strength cleaners), they should not be over-used and they should not be used in the wrong places. I have lost count over the years of the number of times a client has reviewed a contract before me, and failed to strike through language requiring them …
Matters are moving quickly on the implementation of the key provisions of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Modern Slavery Act (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations 2015 have now been approved by the House of Lords, and it looks as though the requirement for organisations with a turnover of more than £36M per annum to prepare an annual slavery and …
We often get questions from clients about how they can protect their consultancy business from being made subject to IR35 Rules in relation to particular engagements. There are some general factors, which will always help the decision come down against a company being treated as a “personal services company” for tax purposes. These include factors such as: (a) being able …
The Enterprise Bill 2015-16 adds two new sections 13A and 16A to the Insurance Act 2015, which have which are proving rather controversial in some quarters in the insurance industry. Section 13A if it becomes law, will require insurers to pay insurance claims within a reasonable time, and to pay contractual damages to their insured if they do not do …