Business Bites: Protecting Your Company Part 1 – Caveats.

Welcome to the next instalment of Business Bites.  We have already established how to incorporate your new company, and you should now be familiar with the current filing requirements imposed by the Companies Act 2006. 

However, it is also important to consider the ways in which your company could be at risk from external factors.

In February 2015 we published an article on the importance of lodging caveats to protect you and your business. 

There are various scenarios in which someone could decide to raise proceedings against your company.  They could take issue with a product you are selling, believe you are infringing their trade mark, or seek to force your company into liquidation for any number of reasons.  Lodging a caveat ensures that you receive prior warning of any interim orders being raised against your company, allowing you to oppose such order and potentially prevent it from being granted.

Changes to the Scottish courts system mean that actions with a monetary value of £100,000 or less will require to be brought in a Sheriff Court, and not the Court of Session.  As such it is important that caveats are lodged in the appropriate Sheriff Courts to provide your business with adequate protection.

Davidson Chalmers can lodge caveats on your behalf for a fixed fee of £50 plus VAT and court fees per caveat.  Court fees are currently £36 per caveat in the Sheriff Court and £48 per caveat in the Court of Session.

The caveat remains in place for one year and, as part of the fixed fee, we contact our clients prior to their expiry to discuss renewal.

If you would like to arrange to have caveats put in place, please contact a member of our Dispute Resolution team on 0131 625 9191.

Disclaimer 
The matter in this publication is based on our current understanding of the law.  The information provides only an overview of the law in force at the date hereof and has been produced for general information purposes only. Professional advice should always be sought before taking any action in reliance of the information. Accordingly, Davidson Chalmers LLP does not take any responsibility for losses incurred by any person through acting or failing to act on the basis of anything contained in this publication.