Who to sue Ltd company or sole trader

**northernladuk** · 27 August 2011, 11:42

I think you are on the wrong forums here. You need to be speaking to a solicitor. We may know how to run a LTD through experience and learning but not many of use will be familiar with the process of suing one or being sued.

Try a legal forum or your own solicitor. Try a no win no fee outfit if you are worried about cost.

**VectraMan** · 27 August 2011, 12:04

WHS, but I think the answer is pretty clear. What's the name on the contract? That's who you have to sue.

I assume for £1000 you're probably going via the Small Claims Court, and not going to be spending money on solicitors. But remember that there's no point suing someone with no ability to pay; if you win you still won't get your money.

**SueEllen** · 27 August 2011, 13:12

Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

I think you are on the wrong forums here. You need to be speaking to a solicitor. We may know how to run a LTD through experience and learning but not many of use will be familiar with the process of suing one or being sued.

Try a legal forum or your own solicitor. Try a no win no fee outfit if you are worried about cost.

The small claims court is designed for you to do the process yourself. If you use a solicitor you cannot claim the costs back from the other side. There is also no such thing as "no win no fee" for these cases.

Anyway what VectraMan said is all true.

**centurian** · 27 August 2011, 13:37

Originally posted by VectraMan View Post

But remember that there's no point suing someone with no ability to pay

Correct, if the intention is to get your money back - which it seems like it is.

But aside from that, it can be used as a means to punish the person and make it harder for them to do it in future, either though personal CCJ's or bankrupting the Ltd which can get them banned from serving as a director in the future. This will take a massive amount of work on your part - with no guarantee that it would make a jot of difference.

But then these people do this because they can basically get away with it. If more people pushed it as far as they could, they wouldn't be so keen to try it on.

You can probably kiss the money goodbye though, sorry.

I have contacted companies house and they inform me she became limited after I did the course infact she registered the company as LTD when I told her I was going to go to Trading standards

Seems interesting - at first glance, it seems you may have her nailed. How can she claim limited liability when she was not in fact incorporated at the time. But as VectraMan says, it's whatever name is on the agreement. If it was a company name which was not incorporated, seems like you have a case for going after her personally.

None of us are solicitors though, so take our "advice" with a pinch of salt.

**Wanderer** · 27 August 2011, 14:52

Originally posted by cbrqueen View Post

I want to sue a sole trader because I was sold a fully accredited diploma course that actually wasn't, I have issued a court claim on her and she wishes to defend and in her defense she is claiming that I am suing the wrong person as she is LTD.

Well, if that's true then the case will be dismissed and you can refile it against the LTD. But as others will say, was your contract with a LTD company or the person? I'd say go after the person if she has been through all this before and possibly get some legal advice as she may be a slippery character.

When it comes to a settlement negotiation, I would make it clear to her that you are seriously considering filing a complaint to the police if the case is not settled quickly. Remember that there is your lost time attending a worthless course that you have to account for as well as the cost of the course itself so don't settle to cheaply. No doubt lots of other people were ripped off and are doing nothing about it.

**SueEllen** · 27 August 2011, 17:12

I forgot to add to my post contact trading standards anyway with all the names and companies she uses to hide under to con people.

While they are unlikely to do anything at the moment as soon as they get enough complaints about her or her companies they will take action.

**John Antell** · 28 August 2011, 08:41

Originally posted by SueEllen View Post

The small claims court is designed for you to do the process yourself. If you use a solicitor you cannot claim the costs back from the other side. There is also no such thing as "no win no fee" for these cases.

Anyway what VectraMan said is all true.

Where a claim is for a total loss of less than £5,000 then generally (though there are exceptions) it would be allocated to the Small Claims Track in the County Court (commonly called the "small claims court") and generally (though there are exceptions) the winning party will not get back any fees he has paid to lawyers.

This normally means that, as others have said, it is uneconomic to engage a solicitor to handle the claim from start to finish.

However there is the option of essentially doing it yourself but paying a lawyer for advice limited to particular aspects which arise. For example, you could go to a solicitor or to a direct access barrister and ask them how much they would charge to advise you just on the particular point you have raised about sole trader/limited company.

Barristers are used to being asked to advise on specific isolated points as they are often engaged by solicitors to carry out a specific piece of legal work for which their expertise is needed.

There is some general information about doing it yourself here https://sites.google.com/site/howtos...do-it-yourself

Who to sue Ltd company or sole trader