Sole Trader Threatened with legal action

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  • Comms69
    Comms69 Posts: 14,229 Forumite
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    alc88 wrote: »
    In fact it was dissolved in 2009 I have just found out ... unless she is now freelance herself...
    Who were you invoicing, surely that answers the question
  • alc88
    alc88 Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Can I just add that she paid less than £300 for the website. Not sure if that has any relevance
  • alc88
    alc88 Posts: 8 Forumite
    edited 2 March 2018 at 2:25PM
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    Very true - it was invoiced to her direct. Or she could be registered abroad (She's Turkish but lives in London)
  • fishybusiness
    fishybusiness Posts: 1,263 Forumite
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    I still find it staggering how many people fall in to the trap of allowing a web designer to own their domains - it gives massive power to the designer/ maintainer.

    Your argument that you owned the domain is perhaps on dodgy ground, the other party may argue that you were contracted to hold it for them.

    Obviously your illness played a big role in how this panned out, I used to do this sort of thing, and moving domains was something I kept my eyes on closely until complete.
    Little did I realise that the email the transfer was requested from was unmonitored and therefore did not reach the registration company

    Also, domains are transferred from within accounts, not by email, wouldn't you have known that - slightly confused??

    Is this person operating as a sole trader now - just wondering with you saying the company is dissolved.
  • alc88
    alc88 Posts: 8 Forumite
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    I agree - and I no longer hold domains for people.

    In regards to how the transfer worked - yes it is usually in accounts, but she contact the registration company direct who emailed me to ask if I agreed, to which I replied for them to go ahead. So it was a little out of the ordinary situation.

    So many elements contributed - I think I'll speak to a solicitor.
  • Manxman_in_exile
    Manxman_in_exile Posts: 8,380 Forumite
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    As Pennywise has asked, wouldn't the best advice be to pass it onto your insurers if you've got some one threatening to sue you?
  • baldelectrician
    baldelectrician Posts: 2,467 Forumite
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    I fail to see how she has suffered any loss from a company that isn't trading.


    No company = no loss


    Personally I would tell her to take the £5k claim to court- put up or shut up.
    I would tell her that I would no longer respond to any emails or communication on this matter short of a court summons.



    That's one reason I record calls (when a client calls a message states the calls are recorded and they will be put through to the electrician). Helps weed out the ones you want to go to another company
    baldly going on...
  • Ozzuk
    Ozzuk Posts: 1,884 Forumite
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    I have many IT contracts, the majority bill annually with no issues, but some don't go through straight away - for many reasons on their side. Some are just lax at comms/billing. In every instance the position has been service continued as normal. If you don't have anything in your terms/contract to say different then I don't think its unreasonable for a client to assume you would continue support/domain provisioning.

    And putting the reasons aside, because sadly they are unlikely to make a difference, it does appear you've been negligent. Maybe settling before court would be best - you could face a big legal bill otherwise. Or maybe you'll successfully argue you weren't negligent (can't see how), maybe another angle is questioning the stated losses, or counter-offering. For this amount of money and this amount of maybes/questions paid legal advice is your only real option.
  • bris
    bris Posts: 10,548 Forumite
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    If there is liability it's to the ltd company, the company has been dissolved so there is no liability.


    This won't get to court, as there is no case.
  • Pennywise
    Pennywise Posts: 13,468 Forumite
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    bris wrote: »
    If there is liability it's to the ltd company, the company has been dissolved so there is no liability.

    OP has said the limited company was dissolved in 2009. The work has therefore clearly been done for the customer as an individual and the limited company aspect is a red herring (it didn't even exist when the work was done so there was no contract with it that can now been receded).
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