Bit of legal advise please

[richtvr]

Will try and keep this short and sweet for easy reading.

Painted a car over 1 year ago for a trade customer. 11 months after having the car back they rang me to say I had painted it the wrong colour so I arranged collection of the car. Once the car came back to me it was evident every panel had some damage on it. Also when checked the colour was correct to the colour code they had asked for it to be painted in. So I naturally refused to do it as it would be the same colour minus the damage they had caused.
They collected the car and I have since received a letter requesting £3680 for a full repaint.

Any way the legal bit is the company name on the letter shows on company house as dissolved so does this invalidate any actions against me?

Many thanks in advance

Edited by richtvr on Thursday 10th July 16:27

[Fotic]

Why on earth did you even look at it after 11 months??

Either send the letter back with 'No, don't be ridiculous' on it or forget it totally and bin anything other than a claim and I bet it goes away.

[richtvr]

Had the colour been wrong I would have rectified it. But I had it checked by the paint manufacturer and they confirmed it was a match to the master panel signed of by the car manufacturer TVR

[PurpleMoonlight]

If the Ltd no longer exists it can't do anything.

[Simpo Two]

1) Not to notice the colour 'problem' until after 11 months is ridiculous.
2) The letter is simply a try-on. They can have no case - clearly the real reason for the repaint was to repair panel damage that was nothing to do with you and happened after you did the work.
3) What is 'legal' about a letter? - or was it written by a solicitor?

As said they cannot sue a dissolved company, and even if it wasn't the case has no legs. They are just trying it on. Either bullies, professional complainers or both. Whether you reply or ignore is up to you.

[richtvr]

Nothing is legal about the letter they just state that they will begin legal proceedings. Also the letter header or footer doesn't contain a company number which I thought was a legal requirement?

Cheers
Rich

[tenpenceshort]

Who did you invoice for the original job? Whoever that is is the one with any rights to take action. If, for example, you did the job for a company that is now dissolved, I would have thought any action would be difficult, as the relevant party to the contract no longer exists. If it escalates I would take some brief legal advice rather than spending time, stress and money on it getting messier.

[spikeyhead]

File it in the bin. If they push again, tell them you'll see them in court.

[harry010]

A dissolved company can be reinstated for the purpose of litigation.

[Fotic]

harry010 said:

A dissolved company can be reinstated for the purpose of litigation.

Against it, but not for its benefit surely?

[Eric Mc]

Why not?

Any dissolved company can be reinstated. However, it can be costly and probably would not be sensible for the sums involved in this case.

[tenpenceshort]

Would a reinstated company then become liable for any debts that remained outstanding at the time of dissolution?

[Eric Mc]

Yes.

Companies tend to be reinstated when the company has assets that would potentially be lost to it if left dissolved - such as debts from customers, cash in a bank or or fixed assets.

Obviously, if there were debts owed by the company, they would become payable again.