A farmer who submitted fraudulent VAT repayment claims, based on false invoices which he had created, has been sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment. The farmer’s fraudulent claims totalled more than £1.4 million and, after he was arrested in 2011, he absconded to Zimbabwe. However, when
The curtain has been raised on an unusual commercial dispute between gaming technology companies triggered by an alleged software flaw which saw punters erroneously issued with winning lottery tickets worth many millions of pounds. Under a sale and purchase agreement, company A had bought all
The sale of the Russian state’s interest in a major oil company almost 20 years ago lies at the root of an intricate $2 billion dispute between three enormously wealthy businessmen which will be litigated in New York after a judge refused to block the
In an important case which illustrates the financial pitfalls of leaving employment, a senior worker who received £200,000 in settlement of age discrimination and unfair dismissal claims has been landed with an unwelcome income tax bill. The man, aged in his 60s, was a long-serving
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has issued new guidance for employers who wish to impose dress standards in the workplace. The key points to bear in mind are: Employers should have sound business reasons for applying a particular dress code; Dress codes
The owner of a successful holiday firm which suffered substantial disruption and loss when a third party ‘took control’ of the website it used, and attempted to put off its customers, has been awarded almost £40,000 in damages by the High Court. Businessman A had
Amidst ever growing pressure for more housing in the South East, campaigners who are bitterly opposed to plans for construction of 1,400 new homes in the Hampshire countryside have been granted permission to mount a full judicial review challenge. The proposals for a greenfield site
A homeowner who blamed a devastating house fire on an alleged electrical fault in a commonplace fridge freezer had his hopes of winning compensation from its manufacturer dashed by a judge – who ruled that there was ‘nothing wrong’ with the two-year-old appliance. The man
In a cautionary tale for property professionals, a vendor of commercial premises has ended up substantially out of pocket following a Court of Appeal ruling – simply because the words ‘plus VAT’ were left out of the sale contract. The vendor had opted to waive
The inventors of a novel ‘flying shark’ toy, which moves through the air by wiggling its body and flapping its tail like a real fish, have triumphed in a High Court patent dispute and successfully blocked a rival product from the market. The helium-filled flying
