Disputes between business owners can arise in businesses of all sizes. Whether your business is a small partnership or large company, we understand that your priority is to resolve that dispute and to protect the hard work and resources which you have invested into that business.
Shareholder Disputes
Shareholder disputes most commonly arise in owner managed companies where one shareholder or a group of shareholders feel that the business is not being operated in the best interests of the company.
Shareholders have statutory rights which protect them in circumstances where the company is being directed in a way which is unfairly prejudicial to their interests. Examples of this can include:
- Removing a shareholder from his position as a director;
- Directors acting in breach of their duties to cause company assets to be misused or misappropriated; or
- Failure to pay dividends where a director has drawn excessive salary thereby exhausting the funds available for distribution.
Our dispute resolution department are experts in acting for shareholders in these sorts of cases and are able to advise you on the law and strategy in order to achieve an outcome which works for you.
If your dispute also concerns employment law issues, we can also advise and represent you in any associated tribunal proceedings.
Partnership Disputes
Business partners can often fallout over the day to day running of the business or when one partner was to leave or retire. How these events are dealt with can often depend on whether or not there is a partnership agreement in place, and what it says.
Our solicitors have acted for partners in a wide variety of businesses and professions including auction houses, general medical practitioners and firms of solicitors.
Whether or not you have a partnership agreement, our dispute resolution team can advise you on the law and the options available to your resolve your dispute, including the expulsion of partners, actions for breach of duty or the dissolution of the partnership and the distribution of its assets.
We offer tailored advice to suit your objectives. Our team represent clients in Devon, Bristol, the South West and throughout the UK. We have experience of resolving disputes informally, through mediation and at trial.
