Three women, all lawfully settled in the UK, had married third-country nationals but, at first, the Secretary of State had refused permission for their husbands to remain with them, or join them, in the UK. Held: The refusals of permission had not infringed the rights of the women and of their husbands to respect for … Continue reading Abdulaziz etc v The United Kingdom: ECHR 28 May 1985
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A requirement that the court must have regard ‘in particular’ to the matters listed in a schedule means that the court is not confined to looking at those matters: ‘To reach a finding of unfitness the court must be satisfied that the director has been guilty of a serious failure or serious failures, whether deliberately … Continue reading Re Bath Glass Ltd: CA 1988
A company director may be disqualified on wider ground than merely for specific contraventions within any list, including having given a preference to a creditor bank. Citations: Times 16-May-1997, Gazette 21-May-1997 Statutes: Company Directors Disqualification Act 1985 9(8) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Company Updated: 25 November 2022; Ref: scu.89144
If fraud is to be alleged against a company director in disqualification proceedings, the allegation must be distinctly alleged and as distinctly proved. Citations: [1996] 1 WLR 1569, [1996] 2 BCLC 513 Statutes: Company Directors Disqualificatin Act 1985 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: developed – In Re Carecraft Construction Co Ltd ChD 13-Oct-1993 A court … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Rogers: 1996
Judges: Tuckey, Rix, Arden LLJ Citations: [2001] EWCA Civ 763, [2003] 2 BCLC 263 Links: Bailii Statutes: Company Directors Disqualificatin Act 1985 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: See Also – Regina v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ex Parte Eastaway HL 8-Nov-2000 Where the Court of Appeal had refused permission to apply for … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Eastaway: CA 6 Apr 2001
Citations: [2001] EWCA Civ 1595, [2003] 2 BCLC 263 Links: Bailii Statutes: Company Directors Disqualificatin Act 1985 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: See Also – Regina v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ex Parte Eastaway HL 8-Nov-2000 Where the Court of Appeal had refused permission to apply for judicial review after a similar … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Eastaway; Re Blackspur Group (No 3), Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Davies and Others (No 2): CA 13 Sep 2001
Statements made under compulsion could be used in disqualification proceedings at discretion of the Secretary of State. Citations: Gazette 01-Apr-1998, Times 10-Feb-1998, Gazette 11-Mar-1998 Statutes: Company Directors Disqualification Act 1985 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Cited – Clingham (formerly C (a minor)) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Regina v Crown Court at … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Ex Parte McCormick: CA 10 Feb 1998
Auditors who were in a position to advise a company’s directors as to the legality of them making loan payments to a shell company which was acquiring there shares had a duty so to advise. The directors of a company sued them for failing to warn them that a loan made by the company might … Continue reading Coulthard, Ashton Shuttleworth, and Dawes v Neville Russell (a Firm): CA 27 Nov 1997
The court accepted that it was misconduct for a director to pursue: ‘the policy of not paying the debts of creditors who are not pressing when it is known that the company has insufficient reserves enabling it to trade except at the risk of such creditors.’ Citations: [1996] 2 BCLC 477 Statutes: Company Directors Disqualification … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v McTighe (No 2): CA 1996
The appellant had been charged with and disciplined for a prison offence. He was refused legal assistance at his hearing, and it was accepted that the proceedings involved the determination of a criminal charge within the meaning of article 6 of the Convention, that the deputy controller was not an independent tribunal and that the … Continue reading Greenfield, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 16 Feb 2005
The length of a director’s disqualification is not to be discounted for the time elapsed up to the hearing of the case. As to section 221 of the Companies Act, it : ‘has, at the least, two purposes. First, to ensure that those who are concerned in the direction and management of companies which trade … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Arif and Others: ChD 25 Mar 1996
Having authorised an enquiry under section 447, the Secretary of State presented a winding-up petition of the respondent, an authorised dealer in securities. The company had been obliged to cease trade by its regulatory body. The judge held that the public interest did not require the company to be wound up as it had ceased … Continue reading Re Walter L Jacob Ltd: CA 1989
The applicant had given an undertaking to the court to secure discontinuance of company director disqualification procedings. He now sought a variation of the undertaking. Held: The claimant had given an undertaking, but in the light of new evidence proceedings against her her co-directors had been discontinued. A variation should be allowed only where some … Continue reading The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Jonkler and Another: ChD 10 Feb 2006
The applicant had been subject to applications for his disqualification from acting as a company director. The Secretary of State waited until the last day before issuing proceedings, and the proceedings were then delayed another three years pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against others. The government responded that the proceedings were complex, and the … Continue reading Davies v The United Kingdom: ECHR 16 Jul 2002
Judges: David Richards J Citations: [2006] EWHC 2110 (Ch) Links: Bailii Statutes: Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 8, Companies Act 1985 437 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Company Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.244233
Application for leave to appeal agaist orders made against the directors of Barings plc following its collapse. The appellants alleged abuse of process and unfairness and double jeopardy. Held: ‘It is true that the underlying facts of the charges brought by the SFA and the Secretary of State are the same. However, as Lord Justice … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Baker, Bax, Broadhurst and others: CA 9 Jun 1998
The court discussed the standards required of company directors. ‘Those who take advantage of limited liability must conduct their companies with due regard to the ordinary standards of commercial morality. They must also be punctilious in observing the safeguards laid down by Parliament for the benefit of others who have dealings with their companies. They … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Ettinger: 1993
A person required to answer questions under the section may not refuse to answer on the ground of self-incrimination. (Dillon LJ) ‘It is plain to my mind – and not least from the Cork Report – that part of the mischief in the old law before the Insolvency Act 1985 was the apparent inability of … Continue reading Bishopsgate Investment Limited v Maxwell: CA 1999
Delay and the probable short period of disqualification are proper reasons for Secretary of State to consider discontinuing proceedings. As to whether a person ‘assumes to act as a director’: ‘It may be difficult to postulate any one decisive test. I think what is involved is very much a question of degree. The court takes … Continue reading Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Tjolle and Others: ChD 9 May 1997
Agreed statement of facts must not allow ambiguity as to secondary inference. Citations: Times 01-Nov-1996 Statutes: Company Directors Disqualification Act 1985 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Company Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.82106
A failure to file his company’s accounts is a serious default, and is sufficient to warrant the disqualification of a company secretary from acting as a company director. The filing of accounts is a substantial protection for those trading with limited companies. Citations: Times 05-Jan-1993 Statutes: Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, Companies Act 1985 Jurisdiction: … Continue reading In Re Pamstock Ltd: ChD 5 Jan 1993
A court must hear evidence before disqualifying directors. Though the Director and the Secretary of State might reach an agreement as to what should happen, they could not displace the court in deciding what order should be made, and in making that order. The court approved the submission by the parties to the Court an … Continue reading In Re Carecraft Construction Co Ltd: ChD 13 Oct 1993
Reference to Parliamentary Papers behind Statute The inspector sought to tax the benefits in kind received by teachers at a private school in having their children educated at the school for free. Having agreed this was a taxable emolument, it was argued as to whether the taxable benefit was the cost to the employer, or … Continue reading Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart: HL 26 Nov 1992
The plaintiff was one of many female employees who complained to the industrial tribunal that she was paid less by the defendant than her male counterparts. Sample cases were selected for trial and the others stayed pending a decision. It was an express term that the other cases were not bound by the test cases. … Continue reading Ashmore v British Coal Corporation: CA 1990
An order for ancillary relief had been made by consent. Later the House of Lords issued a judgment which changed the law which had been the basis of the decision to accept the settlement. The wife now sought to set aside the consent order, and appealed refusal to allow this. Held: The four tests in … Continue reading S v S (Ancillary Relief: Consent Order): FD 4 Mar 2002
The first defendant (F) had been employed by a company involved in a distribution agreement. He had sought to set up a competing arrangement whilst a director of the claimant, and diverted a contract to his new company. Held: A company director has additional, fiduciary duties over and above those of an employee. The duties … Continue reading Fassihim, Liddiardrams, International Ltd, Isograph Ltd v Item Software (UK) Ltd: CA 30 Sep 2004
A petition had been lodged alleging unfair prejudice in the conduct of the company’s affairs. The defendants alleged that when applying for relief under section 459, the claimants had attempted to pervert the course of justice by producing forged or falsified documentation in discovery. The forgery was admitted. Held: If a party to litigation behaved … Continue reading Arrow Nominees Inc and Another v Blackledge and Others: CA 22 Jun 2000
(Grand Chamber) The subsequent use against a defendant in a prosecution, of evidence which had been obtained under compulsion in company insolvency procedures was a convention breach of Art 6. Although not specifically mentioned in Article 6 of the Convention the right to silence and the right not to incriminate oneself are generally recognised international … Continue reading Saunders v The United Kingdom: ECHR 17 Dec 1996
The appellant supported IT workers. Through his own company, he set up companies in which his company was a director, and which companies in turn employed the IT workers securing substantial savings in higher rate Corporation Tax. Held: The defendant’s appeal succeeded. Though the appellant was not himself a director in the companies, his company … Continue reading Holland v Revenue and Customs and Another: CA 2 Jul 2009
The appellant’s daughter had been stopped entering the country with andpound;150,000 in cash. The police sought an order for its forfeiture, suspecting a link with terrorism. The magistrates found no evidence of such, and declined to make the order, but equally refused to award the defendant her costs. She now appealed against the refusal to … Continue reading Perinpanathan, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates Court and Another: CA 4 Feb 2010
The claimant said that the medical member of the tribunal which had heard his disability claim was biased. The doctor was on a temporary contract and also worked for an agency which contracted directly the Benfits Agency. The court of session had considered tha a reasonable and well informed observer would not think there was … Continue reading Gillies v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: HL 26 Jan 2006
The parties had engaged in a bitter 95 day trial in which allegations of forgery, theft, false accounting, blackmail and arson. A company owning patents and other rights had become insolvent, and the real concern was the destination and ownership of . .
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