HF have successfully defended a claim brought by shareholders of Injury Lawyers 4u who had challenged:

  • The validity of appointments of directors;
  • The transfer of shares;
  • Decisions of the directors.

The victory allows the directors to make important changes to how Injury Lawyers 4u (IL4U) operates, after the Courts rejected attempts by some shareholders to block the changes.

The shareholders advanced a wide range of claims, including estoppel, sham, breach of express and implied terms (including good faith), and sought rectification.

John Lord (Partner) and Harry Wells (Partner) of HF, together with David Lascelles (Counsel) and Stuart Sanders (Counsel) worked with IL4U’s directors to defeat a number of challenges:

  • Obtaining summary judgment against the shareholders on all issues;
  • Defeating the shareholders’ application to amend their case;
  • Assisting the Court of Appeal in its decision to refuse permission for an appeal.

The case explored important principles of contract law, company law and the threshold applied by the Courts for summary judgment and permission to appeal.

Perhaps most notably it:

  • Highlights the benefits of summary judgment in appropriate cases. Summary judgment is an expedited ruling by the Court on the case, which saves the time and cost of the parties taking a case to trial. It can be obtained at the outset of Court proceedings, allowing the winner to move forward in cases which may otherwise have taken a year or more to get to trial;
  • Acts as a warning against parties adopting speculative allegations in litigation. Parties are required to demonstrate some evidential basis for their arguments, rather than bare allegations in the hope that some evidence will turn up later in proceedings.

If you are facing a shareholder, partnership or commercial dispute, our team has the expertise to guide, protect, and defend your interests. Contact harry.wells@h-f.co.uk or john.lord@h-f.co.uk

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