November 2009

Warning to all buyers of a pre-pack sale!

Fri, 06/11/2009 - 00:00 — Georgina Smith

The Court of Appeal's decision in Oakland v Wellswood (Yorkshire) Ltd has finally been released after much anticipation from insolvency practitioners and businesses alike. The Court has held that Mr Oakland's continuity of employment is preserved by virtue of Section 218 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Therefore any employee of a company in administration employed by the buyer after a pre-pack sale will be able to rely on this same provision to maintain continuity of service.

 

Company Director convicted for using prohibited name

Sun, 01/11/2009 - 00:00 — Georgina Smith

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.

Issue 23, Nov 2009. Divorce - Future pension not taken into account

Sun, 01/11/2009 - 00:00 — Georgina Smith

A recent, bitterly contested ‘big money’ divorce case shows how reluctant the courts are to upset financial settlements on the basis of contingencies and reinforces the point that bad behaviour is not a basis for changing the division of the assets.

It involved, as do so many high profile cases, a man who was successful in the City and his wife. The couple had lived together for five years before they married in 2003, but the marriage broke down in 2005. The couple had one child.