Can she be a Claimant?

[markinofficeuk]

Hi Guys,

I am being sued by a company, lets call it "Company A Ltd".

The person making the claim on behalf of Company A Ltd says in her Witness Statement that she...

"...is a director of Company B Ltd who trades as Company C Ltd"

She further states that...

"Company C Ltd is the Company Secretary of Company A Ltd" and presumably this gives her the authority or capability to sue me.

I realise that this is a complicated set of circumstances but my question is; Does she have the right to sue me or submit a witness statement? I have read on the Companies House website that a limited company cannot trade as another limited company. This being the case, surely she is not capable of suing on behalf of another limited company?

I would like her evidence and the case struck out. Has anyone got a qualified opinion to offer?

Many thanks

Mark New Recruit
Posts: 2Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:09 pm

[enquirer]

Re: Can she be a Claimant?

(D) is a Director of Co.B.
(D) claims that Co.B operates Co.C as a trading name.
Co.C is the Company Secretary of Co.A
It is alleged that you owe money to Co.A.

So ...

As Company Secretary of Co.A, Co.C may act.

But ...

Co.B can trade as 'C', even though there may be a Co.C (we will ignore the question of passing off), but Co.B may not trade as 'Co.C' as the two are independent legal persons.

If you are sure that this is what was said, there seems to be no corporate link. At best, (D) is mistaken.

In any event, as your relationship was with Co.A, in the normal run of things it would be Co.A that sues you. What happened to A's directors? Why the rigmarole with Co.B and Co.C?

It might pay to look a little deeper into the corporate structure of all of these companies. Companies acting as Company Secretaries of other companies is not usually a good sign.

If in doubt consult a specialist legal professional.

[markinofficeuk]

Re: Can she be a Claimant?

Thank you Enquirer for this well considered answer. I can tell that you understand the position exactly. In order to clarify the position further... Company A Ltd is the company running a block of apartments and the directors can only be made up of the owners of the apartments. Company C Ltd is the management company and they carry out the maintenance of the block at the instructions of Company A Ltd. Company C Ltd is also the "Company Secretary" of Company A Ltd.

The witness statement submitted to the court is written by a director of Company B Ltd who she says trades as Company C Ltd. I suspect that as the two companies are completely separate legal entities she cannot act on behalf of Company C Ltd.