69 Days
Posted: Tuesday 24 January 2012
Many days in court, two QCs, three law firms and 69 pages of assessment of the evidence by Lord Menzies, and incalculable financial, emotional and time cost to the parties, is what it took in the case of MacCallum v Sneddon to decide the questions of:-
1 who the directors of a company were;
2 who the chairman of the company was; and
3 whether the cost of acquiring land by the company and the costs of getting planning permission for that land were to be deducted before or after the proceeds from the sale of the land were distributed to the company’s shareholders.
The dispute between the parties related to what had happened and what had been agreed; there was no dispute between the parties on the applicable law. We at Morton Fraser had no involvement in this case, but our litigation team would have been delighted to have been involved in the case and to have had a share of the legal fees the parties paid to have the court decide their dispute.
However, our corporate team would have been even happier to ensure that the understanding between the parties had been set down in writing in a legally binding agreement and not left to the court to decide. A small upfront cost would have achieved certainty between the parties and avoided the huge cost, time, worry and uncertainty of the court case.
No matter how friendly the parties to an agreement may be, there is always scope for parties to fall out especially when money is involved. So make sure you have your agreement recorded in writing. The cost of getting your lawyer to prepare the agreement will be money well spent.
Contact Iain Meiklejohn, our corporate law expert, to discuss how we can help you protect your business.
