Wrigley Claydon Solicitors

Author:

  • Shares in online grocer Ocado have increased after it struck a deal with US retailer Kroger.

    Shares in online grocer Ocado have increased by 47% to 814p after it struck a deal with US retailer Kroger. Ocado’s technology will be used in the US exclusively by Kroger, which is one of the world’s biggest grocery chains with annual sales of $122bn (£90bn).

    Under the terms of the deal, Kroger will also take a 5% stake in Ocado.

    The agreement is the latest in a series of deals that Ocado has struck with retailers to share its technology that automates online grocery orders.

     

    If you are considering a company merger, acquisition, takeover or joint venture or are in the midst of a shareholder dispute or share capital transaction or need business advice please contact us. Call 0161 624 6811 (Option 4) to speak to John Porter and Soibi Iketubosin in our Company/Commercial Department or email jap@wrigleyclaydon.com or si@wrigleyclaydon.com

  • £450,000 costs “not disproportionate” to achieve injunctive relief plus £35,000 damages

    The High Court in the case of Marcura Equities FZE & Anor v Nisomar Ventures Ltd & Anor has ruled that it was not disproportionate for a party to spend up to £450,000 to recover £35,000 because it achieved other, non-monetary relief too.

    Nicholas Vineall QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, said it was wrong to focus solely on the damages in the circumstances, although in any case it was not a nominal sum.

    The case related to the alleged unlawful disclosure and use of confidential information. All the issues settled on the eve of trial save the costs.

    The defendants paid £35,000 and were required to deliver up all property within their control that belonged to the claimants, and not to disclose it to third parties, and also to provide witness statements setting out, among other things, what confidential information had been received and used. There was no admission of liability.

    Judge Vineall decided that the claimants substantively achieved all of the relief they had claimed, except for a springboard injunction. The claimants had also sought damages or an account of profit. That claim was never quantified, although the claim form sought damages in excess of £200,000.

    “I therefore consider that this is not a case in which I should decline to make any order in relation to costs. It also follows that the starting point must be that the defendants should pay the claimants’ costs.”

    As a result, the judge ordered that the claimants recover the whole of their costs, subject to detailed assessment.

    Suffering a financial or contractual dispute can have serious implications on your business. Our business solicitors will quickly and efficiently put your case together and act on your behalf. Call Shalish Mehta in our civil and commercial litigation department on 0161 624 6811 (Option 6) or email sm@wrigleyclaydon.com. We can advise you on the appropriate course of action and assist with any legal documents or proceedings that may occur.

  • UK Supreme Court to hear rare contested divorce case

    Five Supreme Court judges will decide whether to let Mrs Owens divorce her husband after lower courts decided she was not entitled to one. They will deliver their judgment later this year.

    Mrs Owen she says she’s been unhappy for many years and she feels locked in a loveless marriage. However, Mr Owens does not feel the same way and has been successfully contesting the divorce.

    The UK’s most senior judge, Baroness Hale – one of the Supreme Court judges overseeing the Owens case – has repeatedly called for the laws to be overhauled, describing them as “confusing” and “unjust”.

    Under current divorce law a couple have to prove in court that their marriage has irretrievably broken down.

    At least one of five specific reasons must be shown:

    • adultery
    • unreasonable behaviour
    • desertion after two years
    • two years’ separation (if both parties agree to the divorce)
    • five years’ separation (if one party does not agree to the divorce)

    Mrs Owens cited 27 allegations about her husband’s “unreasonable behaviour” – including that he was “insensitive” in his “manner and tone”, she was “constantly mistrusted” and felt unloved. But a family law judge refused the divorce, saying her allegations were “of the kind to be expected in marriage”. The Court of Appeal agreed that “in law” the marriage had not broken down.

    Her situation is seen as “highly unusual” because in most cases neither party contests the divorce and it is granted.

     

    If you are looking for family advice then please call 0161 624 6811(option 5) to speak to our Family Department.

  • £6m pledge for children of alcoholics

    The Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced plans to help children living with alcoholic parents. The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking to identify children at risk more quickly, and to provide them with rapid access to support and advice.

    The package of measures is backed by £6 million funding designed to help an estimated 200,000 children in England living with alcohol-dependent parents.

    The measures include:

    • fast access to support and mental health services for children and their families where there is a dependent drinker
    • quicker identification of at-risk children, including those undertaking inappropriate care responsibilities
    • the provision of outreach programmes to get more parents successfully through addiction treatment
    • early intervention programmes to reduce the numbers of children needing to go into care.

    Local authorities will be invited to bid for funding by coming up with innovative solutions based on local need, with priority given to areas where more children are affected.

     

    If you are looking for family advice then please call 0161 624 6811 to speak to our Family Department.

  • BT cuts 13,000 jobs to slash costs

    BT is to cut 13,000 jobs over three years, about 12% of its workforce. It said that the job cuts and other measures would help it to reduce costs by £1.5bn.

    It added that it would be hiring about 6,000 employees to “support network deployment and customer service”.

    A third of the job reductions will come from outside the UK in its Global Services division.

    It also said it intended to move out of its existing central London headquarters and into smaller premises.

     

    If you are considering a company merger, acquisition, takeover or joint venture or are in the midst of a shareholder dispute or share capital transaction or need business advice please contact us. Call 0161 624 6811 to speak to John Porter and Soibi Iketubosin in our Company/Commercial Department or email jap@wrigleyclaydon.com or si@wrigleyclaydon.com

  • The National Audit Office have warned that law chiefs will fail to complete their digital courts revolution in time and on budget

    The National Audit Office have warned that law chiefs will fail to complete their digital courts revolution in time and on budget. It says HM Courts & Tribunals Services faces a ‘daunting challenge’ in meeting target for technological and cultural change.

    The Ministry of Justice wants to vastly reduce the number of physical court hearings, cut its workforce by roughly 50% and introduce national centres to handle all centralised case management and administration. The six-year project is due to be completed in 2022.

    The NAO notes that the government has already extended the original completion date by two years with no change in the £1.2bn budget.

    The report says: ‘HMCTS faces a daunting challenge in delivering the scale of technological and cultural change necessary to modernise the administration of justice, and achieve the savings required. It has responded to early concerns by extending the timetable and improving its governance and programm management. But there is a long way to go to achieve the planned transformation and overall HMCTS is behind where it expected to be at this stage.’

    Suffering a financial or contractual dispute can have serious implications on your business. Our business solicitors will quickly and efficiently put your case together and act on your behalf. Call Shalish Mehta in our civil and commercial litigation department on 0161 624 6811 (Option 6) or email sm@wrigleyclaydon.com. We can advise you on the appropriate course of action and assist with any legal documents or proceedings that may occur.

  • District Judge Read has publicly criticised the lack of funding for a woman alleging rape and sexual assault

    District Judge Read has publicly criticised the lack of funding for a woman alleging rape and sexual assault against her ex-husband, suggesting it may have resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

    The family court at Middlesbrough heard details of the allegations from the woman in a case to decide what contact her 10-year-old daughter should have with the father.

    Both parties in JY v RY were unrepresented, leaving the court to prepare makeshift bundles, each litigant to prepare their own questions for cross-examination, and an alleged victim of domestic abuse with no moral and practical support in court. After some time in the witness box she stopped giving evidence, saying she could not continue.

    District Judge Read expressed surprise that the mother, who is dependent on state benefits, had failed the means test and was not eligible for legal aid.

    The Judge found allegations of assault by the father against the mother and an older son proved, along with aggressive and abusive behavior by the father to her while on holiday. But the judge could not find allegations of rape, sexual assault and abusive behavior to the youngest children proven.

    The Judge said the court must now decide to what extent the father’s contact time with his daughter should be supervised.

     

    If you are looking for family advice then please call 0161 624 6811 to speak to our Family Department.

  • No “special treatment” for LiP as judge weighs interests of represented party and the public

    No “special treatment” for LiP as judge weighs interests of represented party and the public

    A litigant in person (LiP) is not to be given “special treatment” as the rules in that part of the law that his case concerns, are neither hard to find nor “particularly difficult to understand”, the High Court has ruled.

    His Honour Judge Paul Matthews, sitting in Bristol said the interests of the represented party and the public also had to be taken into account.

    An appeal brought by the debtor company, Re-Energized, against a winding-up order.

    A director of the company, Luke Watson, appeared for the company and so it was treated as a litigant in person.

    After a detailed review of the authorities on LiPs, HHJ Matthews derived four principles:

    • There is a general duty on tribunals to assist litigants, depending on the circumstances, but it is for the tribunal to decide what this duty requires in any particular case and how best to fulfil it, whilst remaining impartial;
    • The fact that a litigant is acting in person is not in itself a reason to dis-apply procedural rules or orders or directions, or excuse non-compliance with them.
    • The granting of a special indulgence to a litigant in person may be justified where a rule is hard to find or it is difficult to understand, or it is ambiguous; and
    • There may be some leeway given to a litigant in person at the margins when the court is considering relief from sanctions or promptness in applying to set aside an order.

    He described Mr Watson as an “articulate and knowledgeable layman”, but bore in mind that he chose not to seek legal advice.

    He said the rules in this part of the law were not hard to find or “particularly difficult” to understand.

    “Of course, I accept that a layman without any experience of finding his way round a law book or the statute book will take longer to do so, and may fall into error more easily and more frequently than a trained lawyer. That is, after all, why it takes training to become a lawyer.

    “Yet Mr Watson had been able to put together a sensible skeleton argument and a bundle for the injunction hearing, a written argument before the district judge, and also a bundle for this appeal. That was of course his choice, as to how he allocated the company’s available resources.

    “But he cannot complain if it does not produce the result he wished for.”

    Suffering a financial or contractual dispute can have serious implications on your business. Our business solicitors will quickly and efficiently put your case together and act on your behalf. Call Shalish Mehta in our civil and commercial litigation department on 0161 624 6811 or email sm@wrigleyclaydon.com. We can advise you on the appropriate course of action and assist with any legal documents or proceedings that may occur.

  • Adam Lennon, head of family modernisation and improvement at HM Courts & Tribunals Service, told a Westminster Legal Policy Forum that enabling people to apply for a divorce online could eliminate up to 13,000 hours of time spent by court staff checking divorce petitions

    Adam Lennon, head of family modernisation and improvement at HM Courts & Tribunals Service, told a Westminster Legal Policy Forum that enabling people to apply for a divorce online could eliminate up to 13,000 hours of time spent by court staff checking divorce petitions.

    Lennon spent years in the courts service issuing divorce petitions. He returned an estimated 4 out of every 10 petitions to the applicant because of an error. ‘In many cases, applicants and their legal representatives were not able to accurately copy word-for-word the place of marriage from the marriage certificate.”

    HMCTS piloted a scheme last year enabling people to apply for a divorce online, print off the form and send it to court. The service has been extended so that people can submit a form, send relevant documents and make payments.

    The number of rejected applications fell from 40% of all paper applications received to 7% for digital applications.

    HMCTS is also considering adopting a similar approach for the process for caring for vulnerable children.

    President of the Family Division Sir James Munby said online divorce had been a ‘triumphant success’ but there were still five ‘burning issues’ requiring statutory reform: no-fault divorce; cohabitants’ property rights; ancillary relief; alleged perpetrators of domestic abuse being able to cross-examine alleged victims; and transparency, to review.

     

    If you are looking for family advice then please call 0161 624 6811 to speak to our Family Department.

  • Consumer champion and the journalist behind ‘MoneySavingExpert’ Martin Lewis, is suing Facebook for defamation

    Consumer champion and the journalist behind ‘MoneySavingExpert‘ Martin Lewis, is suing Facebook for defamation after it failed to tackle “dodgy” adverts that used his face and website to sell dubious financial products.

    Lewis claims that Facebook has failed to remove or prevent the adverts from appearing on its site. He also claims that the false adverts are not only damaging to his reputation but have also persuaded victims to invest their money into scams.

    He said that he would donate any damages awarded to anti-fraud and fake news charities.

    The adverts used titles such as “Bitcoin code” and “Cloud trader” to encourage people to invest their savings into a range of “get rich schemes”.

    Although he has repeatedly contacted Facebook to complain, Lewis claims that the company has failed to take action and that he has faced reputational damage as a consequence.

    Suffering a financial or contractual dispute can have serious implications on your business. Our business solicitors will quickly and efficiently put your case together and act on your behalf. Call Shalish Mehta in our civil and commercial litigation department on 0161 624 6811 or email sm@wrigleyclaydon.com. We can advise you on the appropriate course of action and assist with any legal documents or proceedings that may occur.