Submitted by KeithDaniel on
The corporate finance team at Berry Smith has acted in respect of the sale of Clarks Modular Buildings Limited to the management team. Clarks Modular Buildings is based in Cardiff and provides a bespoke service of design and installation of modular buildings to customers nationally. It has a varied customer base which includes the education, sport and construction sectors.
Submitted by KeithDaniel on
Berry Smith’s Corporate Finance team has been shortlisted for Legal Team of the Year at the Insider 2017 Wales Dealmakers Awards, which are being held on 28th September in Cardiff.
Submitted by GRichardson on
A landlord who temporarily transferred ownership of a block of flats to his wife has won his appeal in an enfranchisement case.
The court heard that in 2004, the landlord’s tenants gave initial notice of their intention to exercise their legal right to acquire the freehold of the property.
Submitted by GRichardson on
A contractor has been ordered to pay £14.7m in damages after installing faulty glass in the former London Stock Exchange building.
The High Court was told that the Exchange had been developed by the contractor under a design and build contract dated January 2006. The building featured a 26-storey tower clad with toughened glass panels weighing 300 tonnes. In the four years following completion in 2008, 17 of the glass panels spontaneously broke.
Submitted by GRichardson on
The Equality Act 2010 expressly provides that compensation for discrimination may include (or be made up entirely of) compensation for injured feelings. An award for injury to feelings is separate from an award of compensation for financial loss. A claimant can therefore recover injury to feelings even when they have suffered no financial loss.
Submitted by KeithDaniel on
The High Court has enabled a family to take over the ownership and running of a company after the owner died.
The case involved a cleaning services company in Lancashire. The owner had left the business in his will to his family. After his death, the company continued as a going concern under instructions from family members, but there was no mechanism in the company's articles of association to add them as members or to appoint a director.
The company had no secretary, and the bank had frozen its account.
Submitted by GRichardson on
Employee’s privacy in the work place: In a very interesting development in the case of Barbulescu v Romania, a decision made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in January 2016 has been overturned. The ECHR decided that a Romanian employer had acted fairly when it monitored an employee’s Yahoo account, which was being used during working hours contrary to company policy and dismissed him as a result.
Submitted by GRichardson on
Landlords: Be aware of EPC Rating Changes. The Energy Act 2011 requires landlords to meet the “Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard” (MEES) for both domestic and non-domestic properties. This means that all rented properties will need to have a minimum energy performance rating of “E” and that properties with an “F” or “G” rating will be substandard. It is estimated that around 20% of rented properties will fail to meet the requisite standard.
Submitted by GRichardson on
Premature Births: Your Employer's Position. Having a child is usually a time for celebration and generally employers are comfortable with their obligations regarding maternity and paternity leave. However, sadly still-birth is not uncommon, and babies are often born prematurely or with conditions requiring medical intervention. These topics continue to be taboo in many environments, with employers unfamiliar with their obligations in such circumstances.
Submitted by GRichardson on
Lasting Powers of Attorney – Why you should still have one
