When Diego Maradona passed away in November 2020, speculation was rife in the press as to whether he had a valid Will and, if he did, whether it provided for all of his children with some newspapers reporting he had fathered eight children whereas others had the figure as high as 11!
While the Maradona situation is thankfully not commonplace, sorting out the estate of a loved one when they die can be a daunting task. If they had a Will in place that should make things easier but what if the Will doesn’t make adequate provision for all of the dependants or if you are concerned that the Will has not been interpreted correctly?
On Friday 15 January 2021 the Supreme Court delivered its eagerly awaited judgment in the test case between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and various insurers. The FCA was acting on behalf of policyholder businesses disrupted by COVID-19.
To the relief of SMEs awaiting the decision, the court found heavily in favour of the policyholders.
It is estimated that 370,000 policyholders could be directly affected.
Bermans, commercial law firm in Liverpool and Manchester, is delighted to announce that it has promoted 6 individuals to more senior roles at the firm.
Andrew Henderson (left) joined Bermans in 1985 and has developed an expertise in asset finance litigation. He has been made a Partner and joins Alex Chapman, David Gledhill and Jonathan Berkson as partners in the specialist Asset Based Lending team that is ranked in the Legal 500 London Asset Finance Lending rankings.
He deals with matters such as fraud, freezing orders, title claims, delivery up claims, guarantee/indemnity claims, shortfalls and general debt recovery for a wide range of asset based lenders.
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The impact of COVID-19 on businesses continues to be severe, as recent statistics show.
In the UK as a whole the most recent ONS statistics show that nearly 30% of businesses, which have not closed permanently, continue to regard themselves as at moderate or severe risk of insolvency.
Back in 2004, Porter Capital Corporation (“Porter”), a US finance Company based in Birmingham, Alabama, financed a US corporation (“Corporation”) via an invoice finance facility. To secure the finance, they took guarantees from three guarantors, one of whom lived in London and was a co-owner of a valuable Knightsbridge apartment on Hyde Park in London and shares in a family company. The finance documentation was expressed to be under Connecticut law.
By 2008, things were going wrong for the Corporation and by March 2010 just prior to the Corporation’s Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in the US, Porter wrote making its demand for the account shortfall against the finance agreement’s three guarantors.
David joined Bermans in 2020 following previous roles at national and international law firms specialising in sport. He has a degree in law and qualified in 2012.
He is a highly respected and experienced practitioner within sport and is recommended in Legal500 2021 as a “Rising Star” within sports law.
David regularly advises on both contentious and non-contentious issues with experience in a variety of sports including football, boxing and horse racing. His experience includes regularly advising sports participants (including players, athletes, managers, agents, owners and trainers) on contractual issues such as endorsement agreements, image rights, player/athlete contracts, promotional contracts and representation agreements. David is also regularly instructed on disciplinary and anti-doping matters as well as disputes (including FA Rule K Arbitrations, Premier League Rule X Arbitrations, disputes before FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber and Player’s Status Committee, high profile sporting disputes before civil courts and high level sports personal injury cases).
David is as a member of the Dispute, Disciplinary and Appeal Panel for British Canoeing and a Disciplinary Panel Member for Lancashire FA.
Emma joined our Liverpool office as a trainee solicitor in the Litigation department in September 2020.
Previous to his role at Bermans, she worked as a Paralegal at other leading law firms in Liverpool.
Emma graduated with a degree in Law from Newcastle University in 2019 and received a distinction from the LPC MSc.
She assists the Litigation team by undertaking the following:
Drafting formal letters to landlords re tenancy disputes relating to implied and express covenants;
Providing a summary of the position in relation to applications to set as default judgement and JCT contracts; and
Drafting letters before claim.
Emma lives in West Lancashire and is a keen sportsperson, she is a member of Ormskirk Netball Club and spends time at the gym and running. She is also a member of the Merseyside Junior Lawyers Division.
Chris joined our Manchester office as a trainee solicitor in the Litigation department in September 2020.
Previous to his role at Bermans, he worked as a Corporate Analyst for Carteret Capital (Carteret Group) sourcing finance, predominantly for football clubs.
Chris graduated with an LLB from University of Liverpool in 2019.
He is currently working within the litigation department and duties include drafting pleadings/statements of case, conducting legal research on an array of matters/areas, attending meetings and conference calls, file management/review, and liaising with clients and counsel. He has experience of working on commercial disputes, property disputes, issues relating to probate, partnership disputes, and many other areas.
He lives in Cheshire and plays 7-a-side football and likes to spend time with his friends and family.
The High Court judgment, on Tuesday 15th September 2020, in the test case between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on behalf of a number of policyholders, and various insurance companies over business interruption and COVID-19 has been hailed as a lifeline for SMEs.
Many SMEs will be very relieved at the result. The FCA estimated that 370,000 businesses could be affected by the test case; however not all will have been successful. Two out of 8 insurers successfully defended the claims against them.
It was sadly inevitable that the Covid pandemic would push the UK economy into a recession. Unfortunately, the money worries that result from a recession can and often do affect relationships, whether they be personal or business relations.
Even the strongest of relationships have been known to breakdown when finances are tight and the current situation may well have caused the most severe financial pressures that some business owners have ever experienced.
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