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An international company has failed to get a court order to prevent one of its franchisees setting up a rival business. The case involved an Australian gym and fitness firm that opened centres in the UK on a franchise basis. It entered into an agreement with a franchisee on its standard terms and conditions. The
A landlord has won its appeal over the validity of service charges even though it was late in giving notice. The court held that it was enforceable because the tenant had “waived the invalidity”. The case involved Southwark Council and one of its tenants. At the beginning of each financial year the landlord had to
A leading judge has called for reforms to prevent rich fathers manipulating their finances to reduce the amount they pay towards their children’s upbringing. The call follows a change in the law in 2012 that means maintenance payments are based only on actual income. This means that if a parent wants to pay as little
A bus driver with an “exemplary record” who was sacked for going through traffic lights when they were on red has won his unfair dismissal claim. The Employment Tribunal heard that Abdul Jabber had worked for National Express West Midlands for 37 years and had an unblemished record. He was sacked in October 2015 after
A woman who was estranged from her father has been awarded £30,000 from his estate even though he disinherited his children in his will. The court heard that Stanley Nahajec had left all his £265,000 estate to a friend. His three children got nothing. Elena Nahajec, the only child from Mr Nahajec’s second marriage, made
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has posed the question of whether we might find a cure for dementia in near future. Speaking on World Alzheimer’s Day he said: “This is the question that for years no one has dared to ask. We assumed – wrongly – that dementia was just part of the ageing process instead
The government has announced a £2.3 billion fund which will help unlock 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said hundreds of housing developments were being held up because of a lack of local infrastructure. The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) will solve that problem by enabling the construction of roads,
A husband described in court as “blatantly dishonest” has failed in his attempt to reduce the amount he must pay his wife as part of their divorce settlement. During the divorce proceedings, the husband had claimed to be in a dire financial position, being indebted to a trust he had set up and being excluded
Employees who worked for a company that became insolvent may be due extra holiday pay dating back several years. The Insolvency Service (IS) is contacting potential claimants after the Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that holiday pay should take commission into account if employees were entitled to it as part of their employment contract. This decision
Historically, companies were required to include an Objects clause in their Memorandums of Association. This clause sets out the purpose of the company and listed the activities that the company was able to undertake. If a company acted outside of their Objects, those actions were said to be ultra vires (i.e. acting outside of their