Small Claims Court - Building Company in Liquidation

CakeOrDeath

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone can give any advice on my small claims application that isn't going very smoothly.

Earlier in the year I contracted a building company to do some work on my property that in the end was never done. After being ignored for a long time by the company they agreed to cancel the work and pay back my deposit, but they never did pay me back.

After giving adequate time for the company to pay back the deposit, I submitted a Simple Procedure Claim form against the parent company (all my contact had been through a subsidiary of the parent company). However, I recently received documentation from the liquidator of the parent company who are disputing the claim because their stance is that they have never heard of the subsidiary company. Below I have listed what I believe to be evidence to support my case:

• The paperwork I received from the subsidiary for the agreed building work has the parent company number on it and it is signed off by the owner of the parent company
• The manager that has been in email contact with me lists their occupation as general manager of the parent company on his LinkedIn profile (taken a screenshot)
• I have a screenshot of the subsidiary website contact page where is says it is a subsidiary of the parent company

Do you think this is enough to back up my claim? My concern that I'm not sure where I stand in a legal sense if the subsidiary isn't officially listed anywhere as having some sort of connection to the parent company. Also, the liquidator has stated they are not in a position to formally respond to my application so I'm not sure what status this puts my application.

I should point out that the claim is for a few hundred pounds so if it all goes wrong I can just chalk it up to experience but they shouldn't be allowed to get away with this!

Thanks in advance for any comments!

waamo

Is this in Scotland?

CakeOrDeath

Yes it is. Sorry, should have said that in post

waamo

Who did you sign a contract with? That's who you sue. If you've gone after a liquidated company even if you win you may well not get anything. It sounds like they haven't got anything to give you.

davidmcn

A "subsidiary" would be a separate legal entity with its own company number etc. Are you perhaps talking about just a trading name of the parent company? In which case it would be the parent company you sue (e.g. if your contract is with "Superfine Conservatories, a division of Bloggs Builders Ltd", your contract is with Bloggs Builders Ltd. If it's with "Superfine Conservatories Ltd" then your contract is with Superfine Conservatories Ltd.).

In any event if they're in liquidation you may well be chasing an entitlement to zero, depending on what else they owed.

CakeOrDeath

I completely agree that nothing might come of this but since it doesn't cost much to submit the application I thought it was worth a shot.


On the website of the company I contacted for the building work it says that it is a subsidiary of a parent company. However, I cannot find any official company/trade name information on the subsidiary. On all the documentation I have from the subsidiary (quotes, contracts, etc) there is a company number and if you search for it you get the parent company. If I search for the people I have been in contact with about the building work they are all affiliated with the parent company. So in my Simple Procedure application I put the parent company as the respondent.



My issue is that the liquidator who replied to the court application has said that they don't believe that the parent company owe me anything because they have never heard of the subsidiary (I put the subsidiary in the application as a possible trade name but again I can't find info on this). I think everything points to the parent company but I just don't know if my evidence is enough in a legal sense. I could see the liquidator saying that what I have doesn't legally tie the two entities together.

waamo

I think the liquidator may very well be right. If you've employed some dodgy outfit they may have misrepresented their relationship (if any) with the other company.

You can claim anything on a website or social media page. It doesn't make it true though.

DE_612183

If the contract is with the parent company ( ie their name & company number is on the contract ) then thats who you have a contract with.

davidmcn

Do you think the individuals concerned were who they claimed to be? If so then you could try pursuing them personally, if the liquidator can back up the claim that they weren't in fact acting as the company. Though they won't necessarily have any more cash than the company.

DoaM

Dave46049 wrote: »

If the contract is with the parent company ( ie their name & company number is on the contract ) then thats who you have a contract with.

That's the OP's problem ... the paperwork has the Subsidiary Name but the Parent Company Number. Parent company are saying the subsidiary are nothing to do with them.

@OP - "small claims" are judged on the balance of probabilities (more likely than not). Only a Sheriff can rule whether or not you're pursuing the correct entity.

DE_612183

So it's fraud ( by whoever got the OP to sign the paperwork )?