Bankruptcy? Advise sought please

mistergale

Hi all

Firstly, sorry if this is in the wrong place. Wasn't sure if this section was just for post bankruptcy issues. If so, can a mod please move it.

A little about my issue. I am not bankrupt at the moment, nor in the process of undertaking it (hence my puzzlement over the section for this question), however, it could be something coming very soon.

To cut a very long story short, a couple of years back I did some work for a client and they paid me - only a few hundred pounds and all ways fine. However, I am due to be sued in Paris, along with my client from breech of trademark. I run an seo company, my client asked me to rank them for certain terms, which I did. The terms later turned out to be the other company trademarks. Unfortunately i am not an expert on that industry so had no idea if the terms were products or just general industry terms.

Anyway, both the client and I are being sued in Paris over this (the competitor is French) in what appears a joint case, or as our/my client's french lawyer put it 'I just checked in their pleadings and the EUR 200 000 requested by French Company is the total of French Company claim. This sum, if accepted by the Court, would have to be paid by My Uk Client and ME in solidum” (“solidairement”) i.e. French Company could claim payment of the whole sum from any of them.' (I have removed the company names)

On the off chance that we lose the case it would be expected that the French Company would go after the UK Client for the money as that is their main target, I have been dragged into it because I did the work as a freelancer. The UK Client would then come after me for my 'share' of the money/

This is where my issue lays (sorry for the long intro to get here). My UK Client are a company worth many millions. I own a small company which is limited - it wasn't at the time hence me being sued and not the company, which I set up to fund my PhD studies, therefore have an income of couple of thousand a month for part time work which pays for uni fees.

In terms of assets, I rent a house, my phone and computers are legally owned by my limited company so they cannot be claimed. The only asset I have is a 12 year old car which has no resale value and which I could argue I need for work.


So, if we were to lose the case and the UK client decided to come after me for about £85,000 this puts me in a sticky position.

From reading I understanding that they would have to take me to court to claim any money from me and that would go down the CCJ route where a judge could decide what I am liable for - I accept i did the work but i dispute I am 50% liable for the breech of trademark. I would then have to argue the matter and see what level of repayment everyone agrees on. Have I read this right? Sorry, my PhD is in marketing not law.

The confusion for me is around the issue of bankruptcy. Am I right in thinking that I would avoid bankruptcy if i comply with the CCJ repayments? Can the client force me into bankruptcy? Although not sure why they would as they wouldn't get their money from me at all that way.

I welcome any feedback anyone could offer on this please. As I say, we haven't lost the court case yet. Infact, this is an appeal, we won the first one. However, it is always nice to know where one stands for all eventualities.

Many thanks for your time reading this.
Carl

longtermplanner

IANAL

The French company may or may not win its case. But if it does, it is hard to see why it would pursue you to enforce the judgement as your client has a lot more money.

I think to come after you your client would have to go to court as you say and would have to convince the judge that you were the expert and they relied on your judgement. But given that you have so little money it is very hard to see why your client would waste more money on legal fees trying to do this. And then to make you bankrupt would mean they had to pay the bankruptcy fees, why would they do this?

I think you should chill and not fret about being made bankrupt. This has got so far removed from plausibility that it's not worth worrying about.

But if I were you I would add a clause to my standard contract terms stating that you do not give any advice on trademark or copyright issues and the client agrees to hold you harmless in the event of any disputes about such matters.

mistergale

longtermplanner,

Many thanks for the reply. While it is not keeping me awake a night, it is always nice to know where one stands if the worst were to happen.

To be honest, I think I have been dragged into the legal case to stop the client using the defence that it was me that did the work and not them. If they sue both of us jointly then it rules out using that as a way out.

Thankfully all my clients now go through my limited company and so that is another layer of protection, but I do now make them agree to a cause which states they have the legal right to use certain words in their marketing and that they are not using anyone's copyright.

I guess you learn by experience.

Thanks, again.
Carl