Stumbles | Business Law & Mediation

Sometimes directors and/or shareholders reach a stalemate or deadlock, where they are unable to agree about a particular issue.  There are a number of options to consider, including "Shotgun clauses".

A good way to retain the value of the business and minimise the costs and acrimony involved when shareholders part company, is to ensure that a well thought out Shareholders Agreement is in place beforehand.

In the recent case of Cargill Australia Ltd v Viterra Malt Pty Ltd the buyer paid $420 million for a malt business and discovered after completion that the business had been manipulating malt test results and misleading customers.  The Court awarded the buyer damages in the sum of $168 million plus interest from the completion date in the sum of $124 million (plus costs).

This articles considers possible strategies that might assist you in staying out of court.

This article deals with the importance of partnership agreements.  You’ll find links in the article to other articles concerning partnerships concerning The Partnership Act 1958 (Vic), Partners as Agents of Other Partners, Liability of Partners, Implied Terms of Partnership Agreement, Partnership - Expulsion, Retirement and Continuance, and Dissolution of Partnership.

A few of the customers of Servcorp Parramatta and Servcorp Melbourne complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that some terms of their contracts with Servcorp were “unfair” within the meaning of section 24 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and therefore unenforceable. 

If you are a landlord or tenant in relation to a "retail premises lease", the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) probably applies to your lease.  Generally, the Act provides protections for tenants, some of which are fairly rugged, and it is important that you are aware of them. 

Registering a business name, company name or domain name does not automatically give you intellectual property rights in the name, any kind of exclusive rights to use the name, or the right or ability to prevent others from using the name. 

After only a matter of months the CFO resigned from Just Jeans to take up a position with the competition, Cotton On.  Just Jeans sued the CFO to stop her from joining Cotton On. 

Protect your IP from employees, business partners and prospective investors.