Commercial Client Articles

The discount supermarket chain Lidl has been ordered to stop selling its Hampstead gin brand due to a trademark dispute. The issue arose after the chain started selling the gin in a dark brown/black and opaque, apothecary style bottle bearing a diamond...

The High Court has ruled that two directors breached their legal duties when they used company property to fund their pensions. The case involved a company that had been incorporated in 1998 to take over a volunteer-run project that renovated and resold...

A firm of interior designers have won a contract dispute over unpaid invoices for their work refurbishing a hotel requiring a “luxurious 5-star feel”. The case involved Phoenix Interior Design Ltd v Henley Homes plc. Henley engaged Phoenix to...

The Court of Appeal has ruled that an ‘irrational’ clause in a lease that led to exponential growth in rent increases was an error and should be corrected. The case involved Monsolar IQ Ltd and Woden Park Ltd. Monsolar agreed a 25.5-year lease...

The government is extending protection against evictions and winding-up petitions for businesses that are still struggling because of Covid-19. Legislation will be introduced to ringfence outstanding unpaid rent that has built up when a business has had to...

A finance consultancy was entitled to €855,000 commission for its part in acquiring investment money for a large property development. That was the decision of the Court of Appeal in a case involving EMFC Loan Syndications and The Resort Group. The...

The Employment Tribunal has ruled that Sainsbury’s acted unfairly when it dismissed one of its workers after she had called her boss a “young idiot” on Facebook. The tribunal heard that 68-year-old Ms A Spence had worked for the...

Two businessmen who breached their legal duties as company directors have been ordered to repay £600,000, even though the court accepted that one of them probably hadn’t realised that anything unlawful was happening. The case involved TMG...

Two financial services directors have been disqualified for continuing to trade and take money from clients while their company was insolvent. Paul Rossi was a director of Independent Derivative Traders Ltd. The company traded as ‘Futex’ and...

A firm of surveyors who secured a business rate reduction for a shop had provided a ‘claims management service’ and were entitled to payment in full as agreed in the contract. The issue arose after Bias Harrogate Ltd engaged RVA Surveyors Ltd to...