Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2014 #144The Commonwealth Institute (CIC) (a charitable company limited by guarantee) was placed in members’ voluntary winding-up on 19 July 2007. The CIC had a complex history which dated back to 1887. In the 1950s HM Government (HMG) proposed that the predecessors to the CIC trustees should surrender their lease of their premises in South Kensington (the Kensington building) and move to a new premises at Holland Park. The predecessors of CIC were in receipt of rent and benefited from free utilities (the associated entitlements) under the terms of a sub-lease of the Kensington building. Th...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2014 #137Previously MZ, the husband (H) and CR, his wife (W) had lived in West Africa. Initially H’s family had been against the marriage but after two children were born to the couple the wife was fully accepted. In late 2005 H and W bought their first flat, in Belgravia (Flat A) for a total cost of £1.62m. The deposit of £155,000 was provided by FZ, H’s father (F), as well as a further £217,000 towards the purchase. The balance came by way of mortgage of £1.24m, which was guaranteed by both H and F. The property was purchased in the name of COG Limited, a company which was set up by...
Alex Fox and Clare Arthurs consider the implications of the Prest decision ‘Lord Sumption criticised the ‘indiscriminate’ use of the expression ‘piercing the corporate veil’ to describe a number of different things. Correctly used, it means disregarding the separate personality of the company.’ The Supreme Court has recently handed down its much-anticipated judgment in the …
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Paul Green examines recent case law on corporate liability ‘In the broadest sense, Chandler v Cape is a wake-up call that separate corporate entities are intended to be just that, rather than merely a vehicle by which risk can be compartmentalised.’For over 110 years, it has been an established legal principle that the acts and …
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Clare Arthurs and Alex Fox reflect on the Supreme Court judgment in Nutritek The Supreme Court clearly declined to extend the circumstances in which the corporate veil may be pierced. The corporate veil has been in the limelight of late. The Court of Appeal in VTB Capital v Nutritek International Corp [2012] kept it drawn …
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Alex Fox and Clare Arthurs explore the court’s approach to unfair prejudice claims It is not enough to establish prejudicial conduct; the conduct must also be ‘unfairly’ prejudicial. The court’s power to provide remedies for shareholders in respect of the way in which a company’s affairs are conducted stems entirely from statute, residing now in …
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