Back

Our offices will be closed over the Easter weekend from 5:30pm on Thursday 28 March. We will reopen as usual at 9am on Tuesday 2 April.

Get in Touch Menu

Companies House and their expensive typo

10 February 2015

The High Court has held that Companies House was liable when it mistakenly recorded that a company which had been trading for 124 years had been wound up.

Companies House had confused the company ‘Taylor & Sons Limited’ with a different company ‘Taylor & Son Limited’.  Although the names were very similar, these companies should have been easy to distinguish given that all companies have their own unique company numbers.  Companies House corrected the error shortly after it was discovered, but by then it was too late – a number of people had already seen that the company was in liquidation.  Due to the loss of confidence in the company by creditors and other parties, the company went into administration.

The High Court held that the Registrar of Companies (Registrar) owed a common law duty to a company against which it registers a winding-up order to take reasonable skill and care to register the order against the correct company. The duty does not include a duty to verify information supplied to the Registrar by third parties, such as insolvency practitioners, only to ensure the information is accurately recorded. Damages have not yet been awarded but it has been reported that the claim is valued at circa £8.8million.

The case is interesting as it shows that the Registrar has a duty of care and is therefore susceptible to a damages claim if it wrongly registers winding-up orders.  However the judge made it clear that his finding was specific to the situation where the Registrar records a winding-up order against the wrong company and that nothing in this case should indicate how other cases brought in relation to other types of entry on the register should be decided.

If you want your business to avoid making any major mistakes – or if you have any other questions of your own – get in touch with our team of expert lawyers. We’d be more than happy to help.

Contact us

Our corporate & commercial team is rated by national legal guides The Legal 500 and Chambers UK. The department’s expert lawyers can help businesses big or small on a variety of corporate challenges that may arise.

Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
Contact
Willans
Solicitors
About
Related services
Share this article
Resources to help

Related articles

Changes to company law – what businesses need to know

Corporate

This week, initial changes to company law – including the biggest changes to Companies House since it began – will start to take effect. Here, our corporate and commercial team…

Chris Wills LLB (Hons)
Partner

Unearthing the implicit duty of cooperation in commercial contracts

Commercial

In the world of business, contracts are the bedrock upon which deals are built. These carefully crafted documents are a testament to the mutual understanding between parties, outlining their respective…

Richard Holland BA (Hons)
Senior associate, solicitor

Why sole director companies should check articles of association

Corporate

A recent case has highlighted the importance of ensuring a company is incorporated with carefully drafted articles of association, if there is only one director. All limited companies must have…

Helen Howes LLM
Associate, solicitor
Contact us