Latest Legal News
-
Insolvent tenants can be a major headache for landlords. For example, when a corporate tenant goes into administration, the landlord needs to obtain the consent of the administrator, or of the court, to forfeit the lease. This is because administration is...
-
When a shipyard worker was injured in an accident, he received a £7 million settlement from his employer. The ultimate cause of the accident was a defect in the design of equipment (a platform) that he was using, which had recently been installed at...
-
In the context of a dispute between parties to a building demolition contract, the High Court has ruled that an adjudicator was not entitled to change his mind after reaching a final decision and that, subject to further litigation or arbitration, the...
-
There are many potential benefits of buying a franchise, such as having access to well-established business and accounting systems, centralised marketing and a proven business model. Being part of a well-known national brand also has an appeal for many...
-
Who can challenge a company’s decision that has been improperly made? This question was the subject of a court hearing recently , when the owners of the ‘ultimate economic interest’ in shares in a company sought to overturn a decision the...
-
When two plots of land changed hands in 1989, the vendor would not have expected that more than 20 years later an argument would arise over its right to convey the land in question. When the vendor, an Isle of Man company, had sold a parcel of land in 1984,...
-
When chocolate giant Cadbury sought to use the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (SOGA) to make the firm that designed, built and installed a fire detection and control system that failed to prevent a major fire fully liable for its losses, the Court...
-
When demand for flats dried up for a property developer, it became unable to meet the required level of pre-sales on the development to secure continued financing for the project. It then suspended work on the commercial part of the development, which it had...
-
When an offer to settle a legal dispute is made (called a ‘Part 36 offer’ by lawyers) and the court subsequently orders payment of a higher figure (in which case the award is said to have ‘beaten the offer’), the general rule is that...
-
A landlord normally has a responsibility to a tenant for certain aspects of the safety of the let premises. Commonly, the terms of the lease specify that the landlord is responsible for the external and common areas of the building except for damage caused...
-
A recent case involving supermarket chain Somerfield (now part of the Co-Op) shows the wisdom of thinking through the implications of a contract before undertaking it. The supermarket chain made an agreement with a company called ParkingEye to monitor...
-
When a Scottish council computerised its pension records, it failed to ensure that the paper records were appropriately disposed of – and the result was a £250,000 fine. After the work was completed, files were discovered to have been dumped in...
-
When a landlord failed to comply strictly with its obligations under a lease, it was left to count the cost of the failure. The landlord was required to insure the building it let out to four tenants and to hold the insurance in the joint names of itself...
-
Property developers often spend very considerable sums in advance of seeking and obtaining planning permissions, let alone before any work on the development site commences. Recently, several residents’ groups have sought to counter developments they...
-
Employee theft is often an exclusion in commercial insurance policies. When fashion retailer Ted Baker found that it had suffered a major loss due to employee theft of stock, AXA, the company’s insurer, declined to meet the claim on the ground that...
