If a member of staff uses your computer system to exchange emails, does the content of the email become the property of your business? This question was addressed recently in a court case concerning a dispute that arose between a…
A London couple who ran a guest house together have had the ownership of their assets decided after an acrimonious court case. They had been together since the early 1990s and had a son. In 1996, the male partner bought…
A dispute between two landowners that lasted several years seems to have finally ended, with one of them being fined for failing to comply with a court order. The two neighbours had been in a long-term dispute about the right…
Although it has been widely reported that recent changes to the law make squatting in residential premises a criminal offence for the first time, this is not strictly true. Refusing to leave a property when requested by a ‘displaced residential…
The operators of a metal waste disposal and reclamation yard have triumphed in their High Court fight to overturn an Environment Agency notice suspending its activities on noise pollution grounds. Numerous complaints about ‘unpredictable loud bangs and crashes’ coming from…
The treasurer of a Christian charity has been jailed after he stole more than £500,000 from two charities. Accountant Steven Methuen was responsible for the finances of Amblecote Christian Centre in Stourbridge, West Midlands. A joint investigation by HM Revenue…
Company directors should be made aware of a High Court decision which highlights the potential penal consequences of a failure to comply with an injunction. The court held that two corporate defendants (and a director of both companies) were in…
Six men who between them stole millions of pounds from a charity set up to assist asylum seekers were recently jailed for terms of up to four and a half years at Birmingham Crown Court. The six were found guilty…
When compromise fails, waging a war of attrition by litigation can often prove to be a disaster, as a recent Court of Appeal decision has underlined. After engaging in lengthy litigation over the division of their assets and the care…
Trading with the intent to defraud creditors is an offence under the Insolvency Act 1986 (Section 213). Proceedings can be brought against the directors (including ‘shadow directors’ – people who run the company but are not formally directors) of an…