No Presumption of Equality
When a couple heeded the advice of their mortgage adviser and put the property they bought together into only one of their names, an eventual dispute over who owned what was always a possibility. The man paid all of the…
Ignoring Contract Implications Spells Trouble
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 cars…
Fraudulent Trading Knows No Boundaries
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…
Father Has Right to See Allegations Against Him
When a mother was informed that an allegation of serious sexual abuse had been made regarding her former husband, she went to court to have his rights to contact with their children restricted. The complaint against the man was made…
Divorced Couple Share Assets and Debt
A husband has been ordered to pay his ex-wife more than £4 million in a divorce settlement that treats the wife’s substantial debts as being shared between them. The settlement awards the wife the former matrimonial home, subject to the…
Government Announces Collective Redundancy Consultation Changes
EU Directive 98/59/EC, the Collective Redundancies Directive, was enacted into UK domestic law by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA). Whilst the Directive requires a minimum consultation period of only 30 days for redundancies of 100…
Discrimination: retirement conversations
An employment tribunal case appears to provide some reassurance for employers that it is possible to approach retirement conversations in a non-discriminatory manner. The tribunal dismissed claims of unfair dismissal and age discrimination, despite several age-related comments having been made…
Dealing with criminal record information
Businesses may draw some comfort from a recent European Court of Human Rights decision concerning criminal record information. In this case, a woman had been cautioned for child abduction after she disappeared with her grandson for two days during a…
Company law: unfair prejudice
A Court of Appeal judgment has highlighted the importance of the unfair prejudice remedy as a means of encouraging proper corporate behaviour in the management of smaller companies. The court allowed a minority shareholder's appeal against the High Court dismissal…
Dismissing an employee: previous warnings
The EAT has provided some general guidance about the factors that employment tribunals are entitled to take into account when considering the effect of valid warnings on the fairness of a conduct dismissal. For example, where a warning is valid:…