A partner in a firm of solicitors had been accused of two assaults by a lay representative of a claimant against the firm. The first related to an attempt to wrest papers from the claimant, and the second an assault outside the court. They were both wrongly categorised as a claim in vicarious liability. The … Continue reading John Flynn v Robin Thompson and Partners (a Firm): CA 24 Aug 1999
The court considered the liability of partners in a solicitors’ firm for embezzlement of client money by an employee of the firm. Once the true position became known, after many years, the client sued the surviving partners, who relied on . .
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Claim by drummer to have been part of a successful band (the Smiths) and entitled to a share of the partnership revenues. Judges: Waller LJ Citations: [1999] EMLR 233, [1998] EWCA Civ 1711 Links: Bailii Statutes: Partnership Act 1890 24 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Company Updated: 25 November 2022; Ref: scu.145190
Partnership assets, both as to capital and revenue were to be divided equally between the partners in the absence of an agreement otherwise even though they had made an unequal contribution. Judges: Nourse LJ Citations: Times 04-Jul-1997, Gazette 09-Jul-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1966, [1997] 1 WLR 1367 Links: Bailii Statutes: Partnership Act 1890 24 Jurisdiction: … Continue reading Popat v Shonchatra: CA 25 Jun 1997
Two brothers farmed in partnership. The partnership was dissolved in 1998 on the death of one brother, but the business continued. The farm was affected by the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, and the second brother died shortly after. Compensation became payable, and the two sets of executors sought directions as to how the … Continue reading Emerson (Executrix of James Henry Emerson) v Estate of Thomas Matthew Emerson: CA 5 Feb 2004
Two partners had together bought several properties for development, and now disputed the interests in one of them. One partneer had dies, and the refusal of development permission and the fall in property values left the land in negative equity. The court was asked to find that a partnership existed and that the estate was … Continue reading Ketteringham and Another v Hardy: ChD 3 Feb 2011
Partners Liable for Dishonest Act of Solicitor A solicitor had been alleged to have acted dishonestly, having assisted in a fraudulent breach of trust by drafting certain documents. Contributions to the damages were sought from his partners. Held: The acts complained of were so close to the activities which a solicitor would normally undertake, that … Continue reading Dubai Aluminium Company Limited v Salaam and Others: HL 5 Dec 2002
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS: Worker, employee or neither Can a partner in a limited liability partnership be an employee? The EAT decided that on the facts of the case the Appellant was a partner in a limited liability partnership and not an employee. Appeal dismissed.Birtles J said: ‘Parliament has thus expressly provided that the legal test … Continue reading Kovats v TFO Management Llp and Another: EAT 21 Apr 2009
The parties had been in partnership as doctors in general practice. The respondent challenged an order made without notice restraining actions which might inhibit the claimant operating his practice. An order dissolving the partnership had already been made. Held: In the case of a partnership an order for dissolution is the beginning of the end, … Continue reading Lie v Mohile: ChD 11 Nov 2014
Is it possible for a person to be a partner in a firm, and thus liable jointly with the other partners to creditors of the firm, even if his agreement with them is not that he should be entitled to participate in its profits but that he should be paid by the firm a specified … Continue reading Zahid v M Young Legal Associates Ltd and others: CA 16 May 2006
An inalienable government contract held by one of the partners constituted a partnership asset. On the dissolution of the partnership, a value had to be given to it (since it could not be sold) and the partner who held it debited with that amount in the partnership accounts. Judges: Lord Romilly MR Citations: (1872) LR … Continue reading Ambler v Bolton: CA 1872
The partnership had been dissolved. It had involved conversion of a property to be run as a nursing home. The claimant was to manage the home, and the profits would be used first to pay him a salary, and then to be divided equally. When wound up there was a deficit in the partnership, and … Continue reading Hardip Singh Gill v Kulbir Singh Sandhu: ChD 26 Jan 2005
The taxpayers had challenged an assessment to VAT saying that they were not actually partners in the company assessed. The revenue countered to say that they had signed the registration form to say that they were partners. The revenue now appealed a decision in the taxpayers’ favour. Held: The appeal failed. The partners were partners … Continue reading Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Pal and Others: ChD 31 Jul 2006
‘This appeal concerns the Scots law of gratuitous alienations on insolvency. It raises three principal questions. First, there is a question as to the interpretation of the term ‘adequate consideration’ in section 242(4)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986. Secondly, there is the question whether the Inner House was entitled to interfere with the Lord Ordinary’s … Continue reading MacDonald and Another v Carnbroe Estates Ltd: SC 4 Dec 2019
Lord Macmillan considered the construction of the word ‘person’ in the context of a partnership under Scots law: ‘The word ‘person’ is in the singular, but it includes the plural and also any body of persons corporate or unincorporate: Interpretation Act, 1889, s.1, sub-s.1(b), and s,19. In considering whether a partnership or a group of … Continue reading Income Tax Commissioners for City of London v Gibbs: HL 1942
W sought to challenge transactions entered into by H anticipating ancillary relief proceedings on their divorce. Nicholas Mostyn QC J said: ‘While of course no rigid rule can be expressed for the infinite variety of facts that arise in ancillary relief cases, I would have thought, generally speaking, that it would be very difficult for … Continue reading Rossi v Rossi: FD 26 Jun 2006
Innocent Co-Trustee not Liable for Default Proceedings were brought by former clients against their former solicitors. One of the partners stole money held in the firm’s client account on behalf of the claimants. The other two partners were entirely innocent of, and in no way implicated in, the frauds. Some of the losses sued for … Continue reading Dixon Coles and Gill (A Former Firm) v Baines, Bishop of Leeds and Another: CA 20 Jul 2021
Loss of agent’s share for breach within LLP The court was asked whether the principle that a fiduciary (in particular, an agent) who acts in breach of his fiduciary duties can lose his right to remuneration, is capable of applying to profit share of a partner in a partnership or a member of a limited … Continue reading Hosking v Marathon Asset Management Llp: ChD 5 Oct 2016
Approprietary remedy against Fraudulent Agent The Court was asked whether a bribe or secret commission received by an agent is held by the agent on trust for his principal, or whether the principal merely has a claim for equitable compensation in a sum equal to the value of the bribe or commission. Held: The appeal … Continue reading FHR European Ventures Llp and Others v Cedar Capital Partners Llc: SC 16 Jul 2014
The claimants appealed against summary judgment striking out their claim against the first defendant firm of solicitors, on the basis that they had no real prospect of establishing that another defendant was or had held himself out to be a partner . .
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 . .
