Company wins appeal over non-payment of invoices by a major client

In an ideal world, collecting invoice payments from clients should be a simple and streamlined process, especially if you already have an agreement in place.

Unfortunately, in some cases, it never happens that way. No matter how professionally your invoicing process is carried out, it is always up to the client to pay, and this doesn't always happen on time or as planned.

It is very easy to become frustrated, when it appears that you won't be able to get paid for your hard work. If you are dealing with a customerwho is refusing or is unable to pay you as per the agreement, you can consider consulting a solicitor. There are laws to protect your rights; you just need to find a law firm like CurryPopeck, one of the leading law firms in Harrow, who specialize in litigation and dispute resolution.
The following is an example of a company that won its appeal against the non-payment of invoices by a major client.

The company was hired by the client to provide trainingto small and medium-sized enterprises.The service agreement documents stated that payment would only be made if the training provider produced evidence of the training given and resulting actions taken by the SMEs.
As per the condition in the agreement, the training provider company was required to submit registration forms, a workshop attendance register, meeting notes, proof of workshop activity, course handouts, and “any other notes or documents that give details of the content of the workshop”.
In an email between the provider and the client, the provider suggested that it could provide workshop slides as evidence of the workshop content.

After the courses were over, the provider sent invoices for approximately £33,400, along with copies of attendance registers, course agenda, meeting notes, action plans completed by the SMEs at the workshops and environmental policies.

The client, however, refused to pay the invoices stating that the provider had failed to include a copy of the workshop slides.

The County Court judge ruled in favour of the client after accepting that the provider was required to produce the slides as evidence of the workshop content.

The Court of Appeal overturned the decision by saying that what the client really needed to know was the plan of action proposed at the workshop, and the arrangements that were made to pursue that action plan.
The materials supplied by the training provider included everything that indicated their plan of action and the arrangements made; slides would have hardly made a difference, moreover, there was no contractual obligation to provide the slides, so even if the training provider did provide the slides, he was not legally bound to do so, assert the experienced London solicitors, Curry Popeck.

The parties had intended for their agreement to be governed by the draft service agreement, not by additional matters incidentally mentioned in discussions or emails, before the contract was concluded.

It is very important to be clear and precise in contracts and in discussions.  Please contact CurryPopeck solicitors in Harrow if you would like advice about any aspect of contract law. To schedule an appointment or to discuss your problems or concerns, visit their website-http://www.currypopeck.com/

Curry Popeck solicitors specialise in Corporate Law, Family Law, Employment Law, Dispute Resolution, Property Law and Sports and Entertainment Law. Their team of highly experienced solicitors, led by Philip Popeck and Lionel Curry provides tailored solutions on all the above legal issues and will be very happy to help.

When Can Someone With Power Of Attorney Be Compensated – Curry Popeck Solicitors

People commonly appoint a family member as their attorney to manage their affairs, if they are not capable of doing so. A power of attorney is prepared that governs what an attorney is allowed to do and whether they are allowed to charge for their services. According to CurryPopeck Solicitors, unless the power of attorney documents say that the attorney is not allowed to receive compensation, they can pay themselves. But, the amount has to be reasonable.

Recently, the court had to deal with one such a case, where a couple, who developed Alzheimer’s disease, had appointed their three children as their attorneys under an enduring power of attorney (EPA). They then revoked the power of attorney with regard to one of their daughters, who had health issues.

A monthly allowance of £150 was paid to each of the three children from their parents' income of about £29,000 a year. The sums were claimed on account of covering travel expenses so that the children could all visit their parents. In addition, transfers in the sum of £6,000 per year were made into a deposit account in each of the attorneys' names, as a reserve for care fees.

Following a family dispute, the Office of the Public Guardian was informed that the attorneys were exploiting the situation to try to enrich themselves and an investigation ensued. The father has since died.

The investigation led to a court hearing in which the judge ruled that:

(a) The services provided by the attorneys were reasonably required to meet the parents' care needs.

(b) The investigation found the payment to be affordable and sustainable;

(c) The payments charged were very less compared to the commercial cost of providing those services; and

(d) Since, no provision was made by the donors in their EPAs regarding the remuneration of attorneys and rewarding them for providing care support services, those payments struck a reasonable balance between ensuring that the attorneys were not financially disadvantaged by acting as their parents' attorneys and that they were not actually making a profit from their position.

Curry Popeck summarized by saying that an attorney is entitled to compensation, subject to the terms of the Power of Attorney. But, an attorney who charges for his services is held to a higher standard of care than an attorney acting without compensation. While, an unpaid attorney is required to “exercise the degree of care, diligence and skill that a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in the conduct of his or her own affairs” the paid attorney is required to “exercise the degree of care, diligence and skill that a person in the business of managing the property of others is required to exercise.”

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the issues raised in this post, or wish to contact Curry Popeck Solicitors please visit- http://www.currypopeck.com/.

Curry Popeck solicitors specialize in Corporate Law, Family Law, Employment Law, Dispute Resolution, Property Law and Sports and Entertainment Law. Their team of highly experienced solicitors, led by Philip Popeck and Lionel Curry provides tailored solutions on all the above legal issues and will be very happy to help.

Dispute Resolution- Read Your Contracts Carefully! – Curry Popeck Solicitors

The English courts are bustling with foreign litigants! There are many who want to have their cases heard in the English courts because English law is very well developed and most of the time the courts are able to achieve a high degree of fairness in their rulings.

However, before you head off to the English courts to have your case heard, it is important to read the contract carefully. According to Curry Popeck Solicitors, sometimes, the contracts mention the country where disputes can be resolved and that is an important deciding factor. This will become clear from this case involving a claim for financial losses.

An investor had launched proceedings against a Monaco based b

ank. She claimed to have suffered huge financial losses because of the bank placing unauthorized foreign currency. Her contract with the bank included a clause which stated that the cases will be heard in Monegasque courts in the case of any disputes arising.

The investor also launched proceedings against two English companies that were part of the same group as the bank. The investor’s lawyers submitted that, the cases should be heard in English courts only because if the case were heard in Monaco, there would be a danger of inconsistent judgments.

After carefully going through the contract documents and examining the facts, the judge found that it was clearly appropriate that her case should be heard in Monaco. She had accepted that clause when she signed the contract with the bank and her desire to have her case heard by an English judge could be given little weight. The Court of Appeal thus dismissed her appeal. In so doing, the judge had not just considered her contract with the bank, but other factors were taken into consideration too.

When entering into a contract, it is important to confirm what has been agreed to, because in the case of any dispute arising, the clauses included in the contract are always considered, so be sure to go through the contract carefully before signing it, even better have it checked by a legal expert who will understand it better.

One might prefer to have English law apply should a dispute arise. If this is not possible, it is doubly important to take specialist advice, as the law can vary a great deal, even within the European Union, suggest CurryPopeck.

Please contact CurryPopeck Solicitors if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article. Curry Popeck Solicitors specialize in Corporate Law, Family Law, Employment Law, Dispute Resolution, Property Law and Sports and Entertainment Law. Their team of highly experienced solicitors, led by Philip Popeck and Lionel Curry provides tailored solutions on all the above legal issues and will be very happy to help.

To contact them, visit- http://www.currypopeck.com/

Will change dispute- involvement of an expert can help your case

For a will to be valid, the maker of the will should have the right mental capacity. An increasing number of people are contesting wills on the grounds of mental incapacity. Normally, the presence of Alzheimer’s, or other degenerative conditions, does not automatically mean that the person lacks mental capacity; facts must be considered in order to reach the right decision. In a recent case, the will of a woman who suffered from Alzheimer's was disputed on the grounds that she lacked the mental capacity to make it.

According to Curry Popeck solicitors, when a will is prepared for an unwell or elderly person, a note should be obtained from a doctor, depending on the individual circumstances, to ascertain that the testator has testamentary capacity; this is referred by some as the ‘golden rule’. However, this golden rule is not always followed, so when a dispute regarding a will arises on the grounds of mental incapacity, the lawyers have to obtain evidence of the testator’s likely state of mind when the will was made.In this case, the testatrix had changed an earlier will so as to leave her entire estate to her elder son, because she had severed all ties with her younger son. The younger son challenged the will on the grounds that it had not been properly witnessed and sought to have it ruled invalid.

The elder son had engaged an expert psycho-geriatrician, who established that the mother was mentally competent enough to understand the will and its implications and approve it as drafted. This might have impacted on the decision but did not as the psycho-geriatrician did not receive a wholly appropriate letter of instruction regarding examination of the elderly woman.

After carefully considering all the evidence, the judge refused to rule that the changes to the will were because of delusion, concluding instead that the woman's view was the result of a 'confabulation' – the invention of circumstantial or fictitious detail in order to 'fill gaps' in one's memory.

The judge also accepted the psycho-geriatrician's evidence despite being technically flawed as it supported the elder son's argument that his mother had been mentally sound when she made her new will. Hence, the younger son’s challenge was rejected.

Through illness or old age we may not be in a position to make the most important decisions about our finances or welfare, so professional advice is important to safeguard your interests, state the London solicitors, Curry Popeck.

Curry Popeck solicitors can assist you with your will or power of attorney andhelp you safeguard your interests.

So, if you would like the experts at Curry Popeck to assist you with your Will or Power of Attorney, or would just like to discuss the concerns raised in this article with one of their friendly, helpful solicitors, don’t hesitate to call them on 020-8907-2000, or visit-http://www.currypopeck.com/

Expert advice is very important in matters pertaining to property

Equity release is a common way for people to improve their financial position, but there have been dozens of instances involving equity release that have gone wrong. However, instances of the courts overturning an agreement between people where this was made with the benefit of professional advice are very few.

Arrangements like these can be overturned in several circumstances, for example, if a contract constitutes an 'unconscionable bargain' i.e. a contract, which is so one-sided that it is unfair to one party and therefore unenforceable under law. This will become clear from the example of a recent case involving a woman who bought a property for £77,000 in 2001 and later got into debt. In order to pay off her debts of approximately £7,500, she entered into an arrangement in 2009 to sell it for £20,000.

The claim made by the woman was that she had been falsely told that she was entering into an equity release scheme, not a sale, that the arrangement was an ‘unconscionable bargain’as she was subjected to 'special disadvantage'.

According to Curry Popeck solicitors in Harrow, there are many things special disadvantage can cover, for example, poverty or lack of education. So, in order to defeat the arrangement on the basis of ‘unconscionable bargain’, she needed to prove that she did have a special disadvantage and that this had been improperly exploited by the man who sold her the 'scheme'. She also needed to prove the resulting transaction as 'oppressive and overarching'.

The reason for doing so was that if the court found the contract to be unconscionable, it would typically declare the contract to be void. The defendant argued that the lady had taken professional advice with regard to the sale of her property, so, she had acted with the benefit of professional advice and hence could not claim to have undertaken the arrangement as a result of unconscionable bargain.

However, the womanopposed this by saying that she had only received advice from the solicitor about the conveyancing process, not with regard to the agreement.However, this was not considered sufficient to convince the County Court that the arrangement was not unconscionable.

The most important thing to learn from this case is that before entering into any significant transaction involving important matters such as property, it is always prudentto take expert and specific legal advice.

Equity release schemes, in particular, can contain unpleasant surprises in the fine print that can be a cause of problems in the future. So, if you are considering such a scheme and need expert advice on this or any other matter pertaining to property, consult Curry Popeck conveyancing solicitors in Harrow. They can provide you with far-reaching knowledge and expertise across a broad range of areas.

Having built their reputation up over the last 34 years, their expert team now regularly advises a broad portfolio of UK organizations and individuals. Curry Popeck’s specialist areas include Corporate Law, Employment Law, Family Law, Dispute Resolution, Property Law and Sports and Entertainment Law. So, contact Curry Popeck today to meet their experienced conveyancing solicitors in Harrow or their other experts, who will identify your requirements and provide a tailor-made, personal service to help you get the best outcome.

To schedule an appointment, visit-http://www.currypopeck.com/

Court May Revoke Lasting Powers Of Attorney If The Interests Of A Vulnerable Person Are Not Protected

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) were created by the Mental Capacity Act 2005.  They came into effect in 2007 and replaced Enduring Powers of Attorney in a bid to safeguard the interests of potentially vulnerable personsshould they be unable to look after their affairs themselves.While LPA’s are designed to protect the interests of vulnerable people, it may be revoked if it is not effective in protecting the interests of a vulnerable person, state Curry Popeck Solicitors.

A vast majority of LPAs are effective in safeguarding the interests of vulnerable people, but occasionally things can go wrong and the person appointed as attorney may try to gain some personal advantage. On those rare occasions, the court may step in and revoke the LPA to safeguard the interest of the vulnerable person, as happened in this case involving a mother and her son.

In 2012, due to her ailing health, a mother appointed her son and daughter as her attorneys on a joint basis relating to all her financial matters. Unfortunately, the siblings did not get along, which led to ineffective management of the donor’s affairs.In 2014, concerns were raised with the Public Guardian about the way the attorneys were using their mother’s money and property. They made excessive gifts to themselves from their mother’s funds and refused to pay the mother’s nursing home fees, claiming that she had wrongfully been denied NHS Continuing Healthcare.

The mother was also not provided with an adequate allowance, which showed that they could not be trusted for the purposes for which the LPA was intended.

The Public Guardian, therefore, applied for an order to revoke the LPA, which the court duly agreed to and a panel deputy was invited to apply to act as a Deputy.

According to Lionel Curry, arguments between family members do happen butnot normally to such an extent for an LPA to be revoked by the Court. In this particular case, the questionable behaviour of the appointed attorneys and their inefficiency in guarding the interests of their mother led to the order to revoke the LPA.

A LPA is a way of authorising someone to make decisions on your behalf, therefore, if you too are planning to make an LPA, it is important to consider your relationship with your attorneys and if they will understand and carry out your wishes. Your LPA should include instructions on how to manage your assets or welfare in particular circumstances. Such considerations will help protect your interests and your property from any misuse.

Please contact CurryPopeck if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of Lasting Powers of Attorney and the Court of Protection. They will provide the best legal advice to protect your rights and property.

To schedule an appointment, visit- http://www.currypopeck.com/

New planning measures announced allowing conversion of underused office buildings into new homes.

In a bid to simplify the planning system, drive growth and tackle the country’s acute shortage of housing, Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis announced new planning measures on 13 October 2015. Redundant offices have a huge potential to provide much needed new housing and this move is certainly going to bring smiles to the faces of many first time home buyers, stated Curry Popeck Solicitors.

First introduced in 2013, temporary permitted development rights make it possible to convert offices into homes without having to apply for planning permission. It led to 4,000 conversions being given the go-ahead between April 2014 and June 2015.

The rights were due to expire on 30 May 2016, and would have led to bureaucracy hurdles that would have hampered the conversion of underused office buildings, thus disheartening many first time home owners. But, ending the uncertainty for the developers and first time owners, Housing and Planning Minister, Brandon Lewis, announced that they are to be made permanent.

Mr Lewis said: “These measures will mean we can tap into the potential of underused buildings to offer new homes for first-time buyers and families long into the future, breathing new life into neighbourhoods and at the same time protecting our precious green belt.”

To further support the new planning measures and make way for new homes, developers will be allowed to demolish offices and convert light industrial buildings and launderettes into homes. Converting commercial buildings into residential developments can be an attractive prospect, but there are a few things to consider, mentioned Curry Popeck. The rights to demolish redundant office buildings and build new residential buildings will be subject to limitations and prior approval by the local planning authority.Those with prior approval or who secure permission will have three years to complete the change of use.

The new move by the government, which has been welcomed by many first time home owners, has faced criticism though from big commercial landlords, who say that converting office buildings into residential spaces would hamper economic growth and employment opportunities. They further opposed the move by saying that while they understand that lack of housing is a big problem, commercial crises is a problem that needs to be addressed too.

While the changes to the rules encouraging office-to-residential conversions are temporary and are facing some opposition as well from the commercial landlords, the government is expected to make them permanent and drop many of the exemptions.

Please contact CurryPopeck Solicitors if you would like more information on the issues raised in this article or any aspect of planning and development. Curry Popeck, solicitors and mediators, can provide you with expert legal advice

on all aspects of Property Law, Corporate Law, Employment Law, Family Law, Dispute Resolution, Sports and Entertainment Law.Curry Popeck provides the best tailored legal advice together with outstanding value for money. Contact them today, if you need expert legal advice or representation. Visit- http://www.currypopeck.com/