An employee has been jailed for six weeks after breaching a court injunction prohibiting him from revealing confidential company information. The issue arose after the company lost a contract to a competitor. It brought a claim against the employee alleging that he had breached his employment contract by transmitting confidential information to a rival firm.
Directors need to be clear about repayment terms when borrowing money from their company or using their loan account. Failure to do so could result in being obliged to pay back large sums before they are ready to do so, as happened in a recent case before the High Court. The issue arose due to
A company has enforced a restrictive covenant preventing a highly experienced employee from working for a competitor for six months. The case involved a UK subsidiary of a worldwide group offering professional services, and one of its consultants. The company had employed the consultant knowing that, with her experience, she would rise through the ranks
The High Court has overturned a major mistake made by directors that would have had serious consequences for their company and its shareholders. The problem arose because one of the directors had terminal cancer. The company was indebted to him for £600,000 and it was believed that upon his death, that amount would become immediately
The High Court has settled a dispute about how a minority shareholding in two companies should be valued in accordance with their articles of association. The two companies were owned by eight shareholders. The articles of both companies restricted the right of shareholders to sell their shares and granted pre-emption rights to other shareholders, giving
The High Court has outlined the legal principles involved when determining how much companies should pay if they infringe a patent when selling their products. The issue arose in a case involving a company that breached a patent covering the use of aluminium snap-in inserts to fix shelves and brackets to horizontally-slatted wall panels, enabling
A deceitful director who lied about her company’s ability to pay a supplier has been found personally liable for damages of £1m. However, her former husband who was her fellow director, was not liable as he knew nothing about the disputed contract. The woman and her former husband were equal shareholders in a company buying
You have received a disqualification order, either for a minimum of one year up to a maximum of fifteen, and you may think it is a relatively simple matter to not be employed as a company director during this period. Be warned. The effects of a disqualification order go beyond a simple prohibition. It also
Business owners regularly use companies as a medium for trade in order to take advantage of their separate legal identity; the gospel being that this will afford them protection by ring-fencing their personal assets. This benefit is offset by the increased administrative responsibility required from companies in order to protect the public. While traditionally a
The risk involved in making major business decisions based on oral agreements was highlighted in a recent case involving a claim for a £13.5m commission payment. It involved a bank employee who agreed to help a company director sell his business. They met in a restaurant on 11 March, 2011 to discuss the deal. The