Liquidated firm wins damages

Firm that went out of business after being wrongly registered as “in liquidation” wins High Court battle

The former boss of an engineering company that went out of business after being wrongly registered as “in liquidation” has won a High Court fight.

Philip Davison-Sebry, former managing director of Taylor & Sons, had taken legal action against Companies House, which registers information about firms.

Companies House and its chief executive, the Registrar of Companies, had denied liability. 

But a High Court judge has ruled in favour of Davison-Sebry, whose structural and mechanical engineering firm had 18th century roots and supplied military equipment during two world wars.

Mr Justice Edis had been told that a mistake had been made. Taylor & Sons, which had a factory in Cardiff, had been recorded as “in liquidation” on a Companies House register by mistake six years ago, the judge heard. But a Manchester firm called Taylor & Son had actually been wound up and should have been named on the register, said lawyers. Taylor & Sons said the wrongly recorded liquidation had “devastating” consequences when it came to the attention of credit rating agencies, customers and suppliers. 

The judge heard that Taylor & Sons had gone into administration two months after the error was made. The judge concluded that the Registrar of Companies had a duty to take “reasonable care” to ensure that an order was not registered against the wrong firm.