Legal Entity

[mcg]

A sole trader trading as XYZ has brought a claim against me in his trading as name only and referring to documents in his trading as name only - can this claim be a non-entity as not a Ltd Co and the Terms of his documents can these be actually enforced?

[R0b]

Yes, what makes you think a sole trader cant sue you? Court rules require sole traders to reference their trading as name in court documents.

Sole traders have as much right to bring a claim in the courts as any other person. Depending on the type of structure of the business dictates how they are referred to in court documents

[R0b]

I should add to the above post by saying that the sole trader can bring a claim on the assumption a contract exists or they have some other legal remedy available

[mcg]

The Claim and Documents only state a Trading As name which is not a legal entity - no name of the Claimant stated.

[lgfa92]

A sole trader can be sued under either name but can only sue under their own name (and noting the trading name).

Practice Direction 16,

2.6 The claim form must be headed with the title of the proceedings, including the full name of each party. The full name means, in each case where it is known:

(a) in the case of an individual, his full unabbreviated name and title by which he is known;

(b) in the case of an individual carrying on business in a name other than his own name, the full unabbreviated name of the individual, together with the title by which he is known, and the full trading name (for example, John Smith ‘trading as’ or ‘T/as’ ‘JS Autos’);

If you think a failure invalidates the claim then you'd need to speak with the court but I'd imagine the court would allow a naming error to be corrected as it's more an administrative issue than anything else.