Facing Court action? Don’t bury your head in the sand!

July 24, 2019

If you are facing court proceedings, burying your head in the sand is the worst option you can take.  You should consult a lawyer immediately. In this case, a pair of business people who failed to take that sensible step were stripped of valuable shareholdings and had their behaviour criticised by the trial judge.

Outline of the Case

The pair failed acknowledge service of court documents after they were sued by a company. As a result, they missed the opportunity to put forward a defence and a default judgment was entered against them. They were ordered to transfer their shares in a Monaco-based business to the company.

Their persistent failure to engage in the proceedings continued and they took no steps to comply with that order. As a result of this the judge granted the company a further order, under Section 39 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, by which a court official was authorised to step into their shoes and execute the required share transfers.

Outcome of the Case

In ruling on the matter, the judge was unimpressed by a number of emails the court had received from the pair and their purported representative. They stated, amongst other things, that the court had been misled, that one of them was seriously ill and that they had encountered difficulties in filing documents due to flaws in court IT systems.

The pair were seen as sophisticated, at least one of them clearly had some legal knowledge, and the judge concluded that the timing of the emails indicated a pattern of uncooperative behaviour. They had not sought to defend the company’s claim on its merits and their very clear breach of the order requiring them to transfer the shares could not be permitted to continue. The pair were  ordered to pay the substantial legal costs of the case.

If you are facing Court action, speak to one of our Solicitors specialising in Dispute Resolution on 01452 222340. We can book an initial consultation with you and help put your mind at ease.

Moke International Limited & Anr v Ming International Holdings Limited & Ors. Case Number: BL-2018-002235