PERSONAL
INJURY: CLAIMANT
A trainee certified accountant was severely injured at a pop concert
a few months before he would have taken his final examinations. A
report prepared by George Sim quantified the Claimant's lost earnings
and costs of care, and considered his career prospects, given his known
abilities, had he not been injured. The Claimant was eventually
awarded £625,000.
LOSS OF PROFITS CLAIM RELATING TO CAR DEALERSHIP
An executive car dealership operating on a franchise basis claimed for
a shortfall in profits after relying on sales forecasts supplied by the
representative of the car manufacturer. Sim Kapila carried out
a critical analysis of the representative's sales forecast: a central
aspect of the claim was the extent of the geographical are of the Claimant's
dealership implicit in the forecasts. The prepared report quantified
aggregate special loss at approximately £700,000 and resulted in
an agreed settlement of approximately £500,000.
FATAL ACCIDENT: DEFENDANT
A computer systems consultant in his early thirties died in a road traffic
accident while on holidays in the Canaries. A report prepared by
Sim Kapila on behalf of solicitors representing the insurers evaluated
his loss of future earnings and benefits, his loss of pension rights
and the dependency rations relating to his wife and children. A
critical appraisal of the claim submitted on behalf of the Claimant enabled
an out of court settlement to be reached at approximately £300,000
in comparison to a claim approaching £450,000.
LOSS OF PROFITS CLAIM RELATING TO RECORDING
STUDIO
The former owner of a recording studio claimed for loss of profits of
up to £1 million following his eviction from his business premises. Sim
Kapila prepared a report showing that the business was unprofitable before
the eviction: the report and Rakesh Kapila's evidence at the Court hearing
assisted the Defendants to obtain a settlement which was very substantially
less than the claimed amount.
VAT FRAUD
Sim Kapila were instructed by solicitors acting for a former director
of a small company accused of fraudulent evasion of VAT. Sim Kapila prepared
a report which showed that the Defendant's role in the company was extremely
limited and that its affairs were controlled by a shadow director. This,
together with a further report showing that the director did not derive
any significant benefit from the company, was instrumental in assisting
Counsel in identifying and developing key areas of the defence, leading
to the director's acquittal.
DIVORCE CASE: VALUATION OF BUSINESS
Sim Kapila were instructed by solicitors acting on behalf of a Respondent
who held one third of the shares in a company receiving royalties through
the marketing of anti-bodies developed by her former husband. The wife
was the sole director of the company, which was assured of an income
stream for the next three years. Sim Kapila carried out an assessment
of various issues including the need for a valuation and subsequently
appraised the value of the company.
IMPORTATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS
A pharmaceutical wholesaler was involved in importing pharmaceutical
products from other countries in the European Union. A multi-national
pharmaceuticals manufacturer took legal action in the European Court
of Justice against the wholesaler to prevent importation of various products
on the basis of case law dating back to the 1970s. Sim Kapila co-ordinated
the preparation of reports by pharmaceutical experts and investigated
salient economic and financial aspects for inclusion in a report used
in the Court proceedings.
PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE: CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Sim Kapila were instructed by solicitors acting on behalf of a lending
institution to review an income reference provided by a firm of chartered
accountants in connection with a mortgage obtained by one of its clients.
Sim Kapila concluded that the firm had exercised inadequate skill and
care in providing the reference and assisted the lending institution
in obtaining a settlement representing a large proportion of the amount
lent to the firm's client.
FRAUDULENT TRADING CASE
The directors of an engineering company were charged with fraudulent
trading in connection with the taking on of "extra" credit
so as to reduce bank borrowings, against which personal guarantees had
been provided by one of the directors. Work undertaken by Rakesh Kapila
on behalf of solicitors acting for the Defendants showed that the total
value of trade credit taken on by the company had decreased during the
period under consideration. The prepared report and Rakesh Kapila's continuous
attendance at Court to assist Counsel in the cross-examination of witnesses
resulted in a dismissal of the case by the Judge on the basis of insufficient
evidence.
LOSS OF PROFITS: NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
A national newspaper suffered a loss of production including the whole
of a day's issue as a result of the fault refurbishment of production
machinery. It managed to arrange additional sub-contract printing but
was nevertheless unable ot complete its normal print run for two weeks.
George Sim produced an estimate of the resulting loss of profit following
instruction from solicitors acting on behalf of the newspaper. As a result
of the report prepared for the solicitors, there was a settlement for
an amount of approximately £400,000.
AUDIT NEGLIGENCE CASE FOLLOWING CLOSE
OF BCCI BY REGULATORS
George Sim was engaged for 18 months on the audit negligence case resulting
from the closure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International producing
reports on the bank's internal controls, drafting sections of the experts'
preliminary report on the auditors' liability, assisting with drafting
the Statement of Claim (which ran to 200 pages), and playing a central
role in the management of the assignment.
FINANCIAL SERVICES REGULATION
George Sim carried out a detailed review of the internal controls of
the Securities and Investments Board ("the SIB") with particular
emphasis on financial controls and the process by which the SIB makes
contractual arrangements. He has also carried out other assignments
for the SIB and the Financial Services Authority concerned with the transfer
of firms directly regulated by the SIB to other regulatory authorities,
the continuing regulation of firm snot transferring and the analysis
of other regulators' conduct of business rules.
DIVORCE CASE: IDENTIFYING FINANCIAL RESOURCES
A solicitor had built up a profitable practice. George Sim, upon
instructions from solicitors acting for the solicitor's wife, examined
closely the practice accounts to ascertain the total level of benefit
he was deriving from the practice, i.e. profit share plus "salary" plus
any personal expenses paid by the practice. On the basis, a proportion
of the firm's salary costs was found to relate to the partners' profit
share.
SECURITY FOR COSTS: CLAIMANT
Rakesh Kapila provided technical support in the preparation of a report
on the financial affairs of a sports equipment company, the Claimant
in an action against another company. Relevant issues included
valuing brands equating with various logos used by the sports equipment
company. The report incorporated the brand valuations in assessing
the value of the company.
INSURANCE CLAIM FOLLOWING FIRE
George Sim was involved, upon instructions from insurers, in examining
the value claimed for work-in-progress destroyed in a fire at a light
aircraft manufacturing company. He established that the company
had extremely poor systems for recording the value of work-in-progress
and the insurers were therefore able to reduce by more than £100,000
the value of this head of claim.
INVESTIGATION OF GRANTS PROVIDED BY QUASI-GOVERNMENTAL
BODY
Sim Kapila were instructed to undertake an investigation into the provision
of rental and equipment grants by a quasi-governmental body to a number
of connected businesses. Their report into the representations made by
the businesses when seeking the grants and the use made of the grants
resulted in the grant provider initiating legal action against the businesses.
PERSONAL INJURY: DEFENDANT
A dentist in her late twenties involved in a road traffic accident claimed
aggregate past and future loss of earnings of approximately £170,000.
A report prepared by Sim Kapila on behalf of solicitors representing
the insurers evaluated her loss of past and future earnings based on
her hours of work in comparison to another dentist at her practice and
her expected earnings given the stage she had reached in her career.
A critical appraisal of the claim submitted on behalf of the Claimant
enabled an out of court settlement to be reached at approximately £50,000.
BREACH OF CONTRACT
An individual sold his business for unquoted convertible preference shares
in the purchasing company. The purchasers refused to pay dividends and
the vendor claimed past receipts and a cash settlement in return for
the preference shares. Computations prepared by Rakesh Kapila of past
dividends and an appraisal of the value of preference shares in prevailing
market conditions assisted the individual to obtain an additional £60,000
over the original offer of the purchasers.
DIVORCE CASE: IDENTIFYING INCOME
A divorced wife took action against her husband, who owned a hairdressing
salon, following his failure to pay regular, pre-agreed, maintenance
payments owing to the poor financial performance of the business. Rakesh
Kapila
was instructed to examine the validity of his inability to keep up payments.
His report highlighted a number of factors which would result in improved
business performance and therefore assist in the resumption of maintenance
payments to the former wife.
FRAUD CLAIM AGAINST NIGHT-CLUB STAFF
It was alleged that a bar manager together with other staff at a night-club
had misappropriated a proportion of takings over a number of months.
The Defendants argued that takings had been used for petty cash expenditure
but that they had been negligent in not sending petty cash vouchers and
weekly returns to the head office, which was responsible for the running
of a few night-clubs. A report prepared by Sim Kapila played a crucial
role in the cross-examination of the company's finance director by the
four barristers acting on behalf of the Defendants and resulted in a
dismissal of the charges by the Court.
LOSS OF PROFITS CLAIM AGAINST BUILDING
CONTRACTOR
A firm of auctioneers claimed about £100,000 from a firm of building
contractors in respect of loss of profits resulting from alleged damage
to the auctioneers' premises. Rakesh Kapila, upon instructions from solicitors
acting for the Defendants, highlighted that there was a lack of evidence
to underpin the sales growth assumption on which the claim was based.
It also appeared that the reasoning behind various parts of the argument
on quantum was flawed. The issues raised by him resulted in the Claimant
subsequently deciding not the pursue the claim.
SECURITY FOR COSTS: DEFENDANT
Rakesh Kapila was instructed to prepare a report concerning the financial
affairs of a newspaper company and of its holding company, the former
being the Claimant in an action against a number of individuals. The
report concluded that the company would, subject to updated information
showing otherwise, be unable to fund the Defendants' costs. The report
assisted the Defendants in obtaining a payment into Court.
THEFT AND FALSE ACCOUNTING
It was alleged that a book-keeper at a petrol station had misappropriated
about £25,000 from takings. An evaluation of procedures by Rakesh
Kapila revealed that losses should have been established by the petrol
station manager much earlier than the date of the alleged theft, primarily
because daily takings were not banked on the same day and because a number
of people had access to the petrol station safe. Insufficient evidence
was available to attribute the allegations to one individual. Following
the provision of evidence at a Crown Court by Rakesh Kapila, a re-trial
was ordered and the case was subsequently dismissed.
PERSONAL INJURY: DEFENDANT
A partner in a firm of car service engineers and spare part retailers
was injured in a car accident and made a claim of £15,000 owing
to his absence from work for six weeks. Rakesh Kapila, upon instructions
from an insurance company, was able to establish that the claim was based
on a loss of turnover rather than a loss of profits, that there were
anomalies in the business accounts and that there was insufficient
data to underpin the Claimant's claim. As a result of the issues raised,
the Claimant decided to discontinue his claim.
DIVORCE CASE: FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION
Sim Kapila were instructed by solicitors representing the former wife
of a stage-lighting contractor to investigate the financial position
of the two companies which he controlled. Although the companies' accounts
showed that they were unprofitable, Sim Kapila were able ot establish
that they owned valuable freehold property and that the former husband
derived significant benefits from the companies.
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