Duncan Macpherson and Emma Kiver have finished a 7-day trial in the Chancery Division of the High Court in which they appeared on behalf of four defendants.
A mixture of directors and associated onshore and offshore companies faced claims brought by a company and its liquidators under section 238 of the Insolvency Act 1986 that certain transactions had been made at an undervalue. The addition of a debt claim brought the value of the entire claim to approximately £7 million.
Following Counsel’s late instruction in a matter that had been predominantly managed by a Litigant in Person, the Defendants succeeded in obtaining permission to rely on further witness evidence and to amend their Defence on days two and three of the trial, respectively.
At the heart of the claim lay a £5 million dispute over which of the parties held legal ownership over the goodwill of a business, evoking discussion of the findings in Reynolds v Stanbury [2021] EWHC 2506 (Ch) and Sofra Bakery Ltd v Ucar [2013] EWHC 1499 (Ch).
Judgment reserved.
