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Harrow on the Hill , Harrow & Wealdstone Kenton and...
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October 09
Appeal Court Spells Out Sentencing Policy for Insider Dealing
Insider dealers can expect substantial jail terms following guidance issued by the Court of Appeal. The advice was given during the summing up in the unsuccessful appeal of solicitor Christopher McQuoid against an eight-month prison sentence for his part in a deal resulting in an illegal profit of nearly £50,000
Are LLP Members Employees?
In many ways a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) is as much like a company as a partnership. Recently, an LLP member who was required to retire from the LLP claimed he had been unfairly dismissed
Blow for Charities as Tax Man Moves Goalposts
Charities which acquire buildings face an unexpected blow following the announcement by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that a concession relating to property used for charitable purposes is to be altered. The announcement came out of the blue, with no prior consultation having been held
Company Director Convicted for Using Prohibited Name
In a recent case a company director, Paul Edward Raine, was prosecuted for committing what the courts deemed a serious and deliberate breach of section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986. This states that it is an offence for someone to become a director of another company under or known by a prohibited name within a period of five years if they were a director of the insolvent company at any time during the year before it went into liquidation
Court Takes Commonsense View of Delivery of Notice Clause
When a dispute arises under a contract and notices or other documents have to be delivered to the other side in the dispute, in order to avoid problems it is essential that these are delivered in accordance with the contract terms. This may seem obvious, but proceedings are quite frequently challenged on the basis that notices are incorrectly delivered and therefore invalid
Data Protection – New Two-Tier Notification Fee
Every organisation that processes personal information has a statutory duty under the Data Protection Act 1998 to notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), unless they are exempt from so doing. The current annual notification fee is £35 and failure to notify is a criminal offence
Disability Discrimination – ‘Likely’ Means ‘Could Well Happen’
Employment disputes often arise because an employer does not consider that an employee’s condition is one that qualifies them for protection under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). It is therefore important that the definition of disability contained in the DDA is understood and interpreted in a consistent way
Discovering a Cover-Up – Tips for Directors
Dubious business practice will always exist but normally becomes more prevalent and is more often uncovered in times when business is tough. A director who discovers dubious business practices within his company can find himself in a difficult situation. This is especially common when a director finds that the true financial position of a company has been disguised
Duty of Care to Employees – Obvious Risks
Every employer owes a duty of care to its employees, but deciding who is responsible for an accident can be very difficult when the issue is whether warnings against risks should have been given or, if given, were adequate
Guarantee Clause Not Linked to Assignee
With times being tough, unexpected traps in agreements are coming to light with greater regularity. A recent landlord and tenant case shows the sort of thing that can happen if insufficient attention is paid in negotiation to clauses that might seem unimportant at the time
HMRC Interpretation of Ordinary Residence Rejected by Tax Commissioners
The concept of ordinary residence is an important one in tax law, especially the law relating to Income Tax as it applies to people coming to live in the UK
Insider Dealing – New Regime
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced that it is cracking down on insider dealing. The FSA, which levied fines of more than £28 million in the year to 31 March 2009, is appointing 30 new inspectors and tripling the level of fines it can levy
Minority Shareholder Gains £400,000 Payoff
It is rare to see a petition under the Companies Act regarding the payment of excessive remuneration to a director, but the Scottish Outer House of the Court of Session had to deal with just such a case earlier this year.
NICs on Dividends
It is often assumed that the mere payment of a sum by way of a dividend, rather than as salary or bonus, will avoid PAYE and National Insurance Contributions (NICs). In the case of PAYE, the tax treatment as payment of a dividend will override that applicable to payment as remuneration, so PAYE will not apply. This does not, however, mean that NICs are not payable
One Meeting is One Too Many
A recent competition law case saw a group of Dutch telecoms companies fined heavily by the European Court of Justice for anti-competitive behaviour, following a meeting between them in 2005 at which the decision was taken to cut the payments they made to mobile phone dealers
Patent Stands Despite Disclosure of Art
The ruling in a recent patent dispute will give comfort to developers of products that are patented after the developer has already ‘let the cat out of the bag’
Possession is 9/10ths of the Responsibility
When someone holds goods belonging to someone else, (a ‘bailee’ in legal terminology), that person owes the other person a duty of care. A recent case shows that such responsibilities should not be taken lightly
Registering a Trade Mark
Your business has its own unique brand and reputation and it is vital in a competitive marketplace to ensure that these are protected from unscrupulous third parties
Reliance on Pre-Contract Negotiations Revisited
The 2007 case involving Persimmon Homes and landowner Chartbrook Ltd. has now been decided in the House of Lords. The case turned on the meaning of an agreement which contained a ‘grammatical ambiguity’, which applied to a formula used to calculate the sum due under a property contract
Subcontractor Fails to Avoid Liability
When a contractor and an employer are in dispute over something which has been done by a subcontractor, it is quite common for the contractor to try to ‘keep the peace’ by settling the claim with the employer and to then seek recompense from the subcontractor.
The Duty to Manage Asbestos – HSE Guidance
According to statistics provided by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. Every year 1,000 people who have been involved in carrying out building maintenance and repair work die as a result of past exposure to asbestos fibres and it is estimated that half a million commercial buildings still contain asbestos
Treasury Proposes New Construction Tax Regime
Hard on the heels of several cases dealing with whether builders on construction sites are employed or self-employed for employment law purposes, the Treasury has announced yet another review of the employment status of construction workers for tax purposes
Unsigned Distribution Agreement Leads to Dispute
A recent case, in which a dispute arose over the right to terminate a distribution agreement, has illustrated the risks of not having formal written contracts in place governing business transactions
Waivers of Salary – Pitfalls
When company cash flow is tight, a director may decide to waive salary in order to help ease the cash position. However, care needs to be exercised as unless the waiver is done correctly, the PAYE on the salary waived (which, together with the related National Insurance Contributions, can amount to more than a third of the gross salary) may still be payable
Want to Sack Your Auditor? Pause for Thought
If you are not seeing eye to eye with your auditor because their view of your financial statements is at variance with yours, and you are thinking of making a change of auditors, you should be aware that Sections 522 to 525 of the Companies Act 2006 set new requirements for auditors and companies to notify the ‘appropriate audit authority’ when an auditor ceases to hold office
What Makes a Director?
A tax case involving a husband and wife who paid themselves millions of pounds in dividends from 42 insolvent companies without making the necessary provisions for corporation tax has recently been heard by the Court of Appeal
What to Do About Copyright Infringement
In the UK, copyright is automatic: there is no need to register it. It is normally the property of the creator as soon as it is created. However, it is not sufficient to be able to prove that you thought of something before someone else, since copyright does not apply to ideas, but to things created from ideas, such as written material or music
Who is Responsible? Look at the Contract
In a contract, who is responsible for what is determined by the wording – which is why it is crucial to get the wording right from the outset. In a recent case, a company bought oil on a standard FOB (free on board) contract
Freezing Orders
As anyone who has ever tried to collect a debt knows, there is a big difference between obtaining a judgment on the debt and obtaining payment
Get Ready for Compulsory Pensions
The Pensions Act 2008 contains provisions which will make it compulsory (from 2012) for an employer to enrol qualifying workers aged between 22 and the state pension age who earn more than a de minimus amount (currently set at £5,035 per annum) into a pension scheme and to make contributions to the scheme
New Supreme Court Replaces House of Lords
When the new legal year starts on 1 October 2009, a new Supreme Court for the United Kingdom replaces the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the land. It will act as the final court on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases
