Before joining us, Manjit was a Civil & Commercial Litigation Solicitor at a local Warwickshire law firm, and prior to that a Partner, and later a Consultant Senior Solicitor, in charge of the Litigation department at a firm in Birmingham.

Manjit qualified as a Solicitor in 1990 and brings a wealth of legal experience in Litigation to Brindley Twist Tafft and James.

Manjit has a specialist interest in disputes involving property ownership, validity of Wills, estates and inheritance. A number of these claims have risen in the family contexts. . Inheritance disputes may arise when the validity of the Will is in question and also when an individual feels someone who has died has not made enough provision in their estate for them.

Manjit has considerable expertise in Contentious Probate area of law having dealt with numerous claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and around the validity of Wills arising from matters such as undue influence, forgery and lack of testamentary capacity.

Manjit often acts in these situations for children or disabled and/or vulnerable adults.

Manjit has experience and has represented individuals and business in connection with large money claims, has acted for shareholders in the protection of their minority interests, for company directors facing personal claims, for partners in partnership disputes, for Claimants in professional negligence claims, advised on employment Settlement Agreements, for Landlords and tenants of business premises and advised in all manner of insolvency and contractual disputes.

Manjit is fluent in Punjabi and is able to read documents written in the Punjabi language and can write in Punjabi if requited. Manjit is also able to communicate in Hindi.

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Litigation claims in cases of professional negligence and breaches of contract are among the areas set to be governed by the new fixed recoverable costs regime which is set to come into effect from October 1^st this year.

The new changes to the Civil Procedure Rules mean people pursuing civil claims could be left out of pocket or even find it difficult altogether to bring their case to court as claims of up to £100,000 are less commercially attractive for legal firms to pursue.

Each case will be judged on its complexity, with the more complex cases coming with higher costs and in turn having a significant impact on both recoverable and payable costs.

So even if they are successful the client could still be left with little or no money.

Proceedings issued before October 1^st will not be affected by the changes.

Legal firms will look at whether cases are even worth taking on.

Fixed costs have been in existence for a long time but are creeping into more areas of the law.

After these changes legal teams will have to look at the complexity of each case, and how far into the proceedings any dispute is settled, which will then calculate how much a claimant is entitled to recover for their legal costs.

Some firms may only take on a cast iron case – although you could argue nothing in litigation is ever cast iron – but if there is a good case, they could take it on as a no win no fee and they would then take a percentage of the money awarded. However, most firms, we imagine, will continue to charge clients on a time spent basis as usual, which will mean the clients are out of pocket on costs on conclusion, even if they’re successful. Proportionality is key.

Litigation is highly risky. It can depend on the judge on the day, and how well your client performs whilst giving evidence. . You could produce a brilliant witness statement but then your client simply does not perform well on the stand on cross-examination under pressure. These are risk factors which prevents any law firm from giving a cast iron guarantee on winning a legal case and reduces the number of solicitors who are willing to take on cases on a no win no fee basis.

With a steep rise in the number of civil disputes reaching a court room over the past five years, we reiterate the importance of the parties being able to demonstrate their efforts in attempting to resolve their differences before issuing proceedings.

People have become far more litigious, especially in the last five years, and this is not looked upon favourably by a judge. We would always advise people with a dispute to speak to the other party with a view to resolving their differences, or at least coming to some arrangement, before issuing civil proceedings, which could include mediation.

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If a product is supplied and payment is not received, you may need to begin proceedings to recover those monies. There are always variables affecting the speed by which you can obtain payment or whether you are able to recover your money. What can a business do to make sure they’re in a stronger position to obtain their payments.

Who are you contracting with

Before you begin supplying a product or service to a new customer, it is important you make sure you know who you are contracting with and their details. For example, are you contracting with an individual or a company? You will need an address, in the case of companies a trading address is more useful.

In some cases, many companies are part of a larger group of companies where the names of the differing companies as part of the group contain the same name but in different variations. You can easily believe you are contracting with the parent holding company and in reality you have contracted with another part of the group.

It is therefore best to know exactly who(or what ) you are about to supply goods or services to before you begin.

Ensuring payment

When confirming who you are going into business with, it is possible to take the opportunity to assess whether you need to take steps to make sure payment will be made. In the case of contracting with a company when looking at the company’s details at companies house, you are able to look into further details such as when the company was incorporated, whether any of their assets have been used to secure loans/mortgages and their accounts.

By looking at the accounts filed at companies house you should be able to assess whether you need to include a personal guarantee for payment from a director or (in the case of a group company) if you want to ensure you contract with someone/something else. There are always options to try to make sure you receive the payment your business needs.

A written contract  

In many cases, terms and conditions are used to set the terms by which a business contracts. To ensure your terms are utilised, you would need to win what is known amongst lawyers as “the battle of the forms” the general rule is that the last terms served on a party when a contract is brought into existence are the ones that will be used.

In many cases, business is conducted verbally and concluded in a method not unlike a handshake, whilst this is convenient for many (less red-tape, less hassle) it can cause difficulties in the longer term, whilst a written contract sets out its terms that can be referred to by its parties and lawyers, a verbal contract is more complicated to establish.

If you need advice on commercial or corporate law or in the event of a commercial dispute please contact our expert team for more information

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In the case, the Claimant had brought an action against the Defendant as they had a camera on their shed and a doorbell system from a well-established company which links to their smart phone.

It was revealed that the doorbell system showed not only the defendant’s own driveway but also the Claimant’s house and garden whilst the camera placed on the Defendant’s shed was capable of displaying images of the Claimant moving around their property.

It was decided by the Judge that the audio data collected by the devices had been processed unlawfully (although it was not possible to turn off the audio recording facility of the camera until an update for the software became available later).

The Judge stated that “Personal Data may have been captured from people who are not even aware that the device is there, or that it records and processes audio and personal data” and therefore it was a breach of UK data laws.

Although measures may have been taken to try to ensure privacy, the court stated that “If an activation zone is disabled so that the camera does not activate to film by movement in that area, activation by movement in one of the other non-disabled activation zones will cause the camera to film across the whole field of view”.

This decision has made the position very clear, if you are using CCTV then you must take into account and respect the privacy wishes regarding your neighbours and take measures to minimise any surveillance that might affect them.

If you have any concerns or are involved in a dispute with a neighbour over their use of cameras and other recording devices, do not hesitate to contact BTTJ today, our Litigation Team will be happy to help.

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There are a few options when it comes to how you structure a business, one of these is the Partnership. Most partnerships are governed by the Partnership act 1890 which establishes not only the structure of a partnership and the rights of partners but also the liabilities of a partner.

Types of partnership

It is possible for a partnership and the relations between the partners that make up the partnership  to be governed by a partnership agreement, this is a contract between the partners which can specify things such as the amount of hours each partner should dedicate to the business, what to do when someone dies or falls ill etc.

If no agreement exists then the partnership act 1890 will apply to the relationship between the partners. In some cases, it is possible that the rules regarding a partnership can be applied even though it was not specifically intended that a business relationship will be a partnership. This is considered a Partnership at Will.

Partnerships can be identified by some key features such as ownership and distribution of profits being on an equal basis amongst the partners and also the partners are liable for all of the debts of the partnership (this is not limited to the amount they have invested/put into the business) jointly and severally, meaning a creditor could seek to recover the debt from one specific partner or multiple partners.

Disputes

As with all business relationships, disputes may develop between the partners in the partnership. This can stem from all sorts of issues to name a few:

1. Use of partnership assets;
2. Distribution of profits; and
3. Amount of effort/hours put into the business.

In these situations, you may need to refer to your partnership agreement and/or obtain legal advice.

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There are three commonly used methods;

• Negotiation
• Mediation
• Arbitration

Why use ADR;

The Court generally encourages the use of ADR, and where a party unreasonably refuses to attend ADR, this may have costs consequences at any subsequent trial.

ADR is more informal and collaborative than Court proceedings. It provides the opportunity for both sides in a dispute to achieve something, rather than for there to be simply a winner and a loser. As such, it is a more amicable way of resolving disputes. Further, it is almost always cheaper and quicker than resolving a dispute through the Court and is therefore especially useful in relatively low value claims which may be dealt with on the small claims track and subject to its restrictive rules in relation to the recovery of legal costs.

Negotiation

In a lot of cases, a disagreement may well be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides. Negotiation is the process in which a party, or its legal representative, speaks directly with the other side and seeks to reach a settlement. The terms of this settlement will be confidential and binding; if one side agrees to pay a sum of money, for example, and subsequently fails to do so, the other side may bring a claim against them for breaching the agreement.

Negotiation may be successful even after a claim has been commenced, right up until the day of the final hearing.

Mediation

Mediation is a form of structured negotiation. It is a confidential process and without prejudice to the participants’ rights to resolve their issue through the Courts if they wish. The ideal outcome, where all parties are satisfied, is very much the same as with negotiation. However, mediation utilises a mediator, an unbiased and impartial person who can assist in the negotiations. Often the solutions found through the assistance of the mediator can be more creative and bespoke than a court could provide. If a settlement is reached, it is binding on the parties.

The Court will often refer parties to mediation when a claim is commenced. A party that refuses to mediate unreasonably may subsequently be penalised in costs. However, the mediator cannot force the parties to settle the dispute or to accept a particular solution and, should mediation fail, the matter will most likely proceed to a trial.

Arbitration

Parties may agree to refer a dispute they are unable to settle to arbitration. Arbitrators are quite often people who are experts in a specific area of the law or a particular industry. Both parties will agree to be bound by the decision of the arbitrator.

At the hearing, you may have a representative speak for you may represent yourself. The arbitrator will make his decision, and like a Judge at a trial, will give his reasons for his decision.

When should ADR be used?

In short, as soon as possible. ADR should always be considered, unless it is plain that the parties can not or will not be able to agree. As the matter progresses, parties are less likely to want to agree to an amicable solution and the benefits of ADR, saving costs and time, will reduce.

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