Being sued for damages, asset exposure
Discussion
Hypothetically of course
Friend owns a (mortgaged) home 50/50 with their (unmarried) partner and kids. Partner works part time and can’t afford mortgage on her own.
Friend is aware that he might be sued by a company, damages could be in the hundreds of thousands. Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
Presumably if they somehow won damages, creditors can force the sale of the house but there will be some protections around it being a family home. He’ll lose his equity which is understandable. Presumably they can’t take more than half?
Further, is his pension protected? He’s well below pension age. Could he dump savings etc into his pension today to limit possible losses?
If he can’t pay the damages, I’m guessing bankruptcy is the typical process. Again, are pensions typically protected?
I’m guessing gifts would be considered suspicious but he might fancy a blow out holiday
Goes without saying he’ll take proper advice, but wondered whether there are steps he could take today before any litigation (should there be any). If he drained his savings and dumped into pension he wouldn’t be upset about it if there was no litigation
Friend owns a (mortgaged) home 50/50 with their (unmarried) partner and kids. Partner works part time and can’t afford mortgage on her own.
Friend is aware that he might be sued by a company, damages could be in the hundreds of thousands. Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
Presumably if they somehow won damages, creditors can force the sale of the house but there will be some protections around it being a family home. He’ll lose his equity which is understandable. Presumably they can’t take more than half?
Further, is his pension protected? He’s well below pension age. Could he dump savings etc into his pension today to limit possible losses?
If he can’t pay the damages, I’m guessing bankruptcy is the typical process. Again, are pensions typically protected?
I’m guessing gifts would be considered suspicious but he might fancy a blow out holiday
Goes without saying he’ll take proper advice, but wondered whether there are steps he could take today before any litigation (should there be any). If he drained his savings and dumped into pension he wouldn’t be upset about it if there was no litigation
Edited by B9 on Friday 23 June 09:37
In terms of the house they can get a charging order placed on the house. They can try and force a sale but the Judge would look into all the circumstances.
Some useful info on link below
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/a...
Some useful info on link below
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/a...
It depends on how aggressive the person suing is and how much is at stake.
Giving assets away which wouldn't be protected by a court again comes down to have aggressively one is being pursued but I imagine the courts aren't overly sympathetic.
I was suing a very large company through my business and had a strong case, they made a reasonable offer to settle but not the full amount. They then said if we couldn't settle they'd apply for security of costs and since my business is not very big, either money deposited in court or me personally guarantee their costs of £100 to £130K.
I took the offer and moved on.
If it's hypothetical that's fine but if there is a real issue, tread very carefully as costs just seem cascade.
In my case the other side ran up over £28k and as far as I could see this was for some advice and letters, a licence to print money
Giving assets away which wouldn't be protected by a court again comes down to have aggressively one is being pursued but I imagine the courts aren't overly sympathetic.
I was suing a very large company through my business and had a strong case, they made a reasonable offer to settle but not the full amount. They then said if we couldn't settle they'd apply for security of costs and since my business is not very big, either money deposited in court or me personally guarantee their costs of £100 to £130K.
I took the offer and moved on.
If it's hypothetical that's fine but if there is a real issue, tread very carefully as costs just seem cascade.
In my case the other side ran up over £28k and as far as I could see this was for some advice and letters, a licence to print money
B9 said:
Hypothetically of course
Friend owns a (mortgaged) home 50/50 with their (unmarried) partner and kids. Partner works part time and can’t afford mortgage on her own.
Friend is aware that he might be sued by a company, damages could be in the hundreds of thousands. Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
Presumably if they somehow won damages, creditors can force the sale of the house but there will be some protections around it being a family home. He’ll lose his equity which is understandable. Presumably they can’t take more than half?
Further, is his pension protected? He’s well below pension age. Could he dump savings etc into his pension today to limit possible losses?
If he can’t pay the damages, I’m guessing bankruptcy is the typical process. Again, are pensions typically protected?
I’m guessing gifts would be considered suspicious but he might fancy a blow out holiday
Goes without saying he’ll take proper advice, but wondered whether there are steps he could take today before any litigation (should there be any). If he drained his savings and dumped into pension he wouldn’t be upset about it if there was no litigation
What damage has the copyright holder suffered?Friend owns a (mortgaged) home 50/50 with their (unmarried) partner and kids. Partner works part time and can’t afford mortgage on her own.
Friend is aware that he might be sued by a company, damages could be in the hundreds of thousands. Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
Presumably if they somehow won damages, creditors can force the sale of the house but there will be some protections around it being a family home. He’ll lose his equity which is understandable. Presumably they can’t take more than half?
Further, is his pension protected? He’s well below pension age. Could he dump savings etc into his pension today to limit possible losses?
If he can’t pay the damages, I’m guessing bankruptcy is the typical process. Again, are pensions typically protected?
I’m guessing gifts would be considered suspicious but he might fancy a blow out holiday
Goes without saying he’ll take proper advice, but wondered whether there are steps he could take today before any litigation (should there be any). If he drained his savings and dumped into pension he wouldn’t be upset about it if there was no litigation
Edited by B9 on Friday 23 June 09:37
Rufus Stone said:
B9 said:
Hypothetically of course
Friend owns a (mortgaged) home 50/50 with their (unmarried) partner and kids. Partner works part time and can’t afford mortgage on her own.
Friend is aware that he might be sued by a company, damages could be in the hundreds of thousands. Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
Presumably if they somehow won damages, creditors can force the sale of the house but there will be some protections around it being a family home. He’ll lose his equity which is understandable. Presumably they can’t take more than half?
Further, is his pension protected? He’s well below pension age. Could he dump savings etc into his pension today to limit possible losses?
If he can’t pay the damages, I’m guessing bankruptcy is the typical process. Again, are pensions typically protected?
I’m guessing gifts would be considered suspicious but he might fancy a blow out holiday
Goes without saying he’ll take proper advice, but wondered whether there are steps he could take today before any litigation (should there be any). If he drained his savings and dumped into pension he wouldn’t be upset about it if there was no litigation
What damage has the copyright holder suffered?Friend owns a (mortgaged) home 50/50 with their (unmarried) partner and kids. Partner works part time and can’t afford mortgage on her own.
Friend is aware that he might be sued by a company, damages could be in the hundreds of thousands. Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
Presumably if they somehow won damages, creditors can force the sale of the house but there will be some protections around it being a family home. He’ll lose his equity which is understandable. Presumably they can’t take more than half?
Further, is his pension protected? He’s well below pension age. Could he dump savings etc into his pension today to limit possible losses?
If he can’t pay the damages, I’m guessing bankruptcy is the typical process. Again, are pensions typically protected?
I’m guessing gifts would be considered suspicious but he might fancy a blow out holiday
Goes without saying he’ll take proper advice, but wondered whether there are steps he could take today before any litigation (should there be any). If he drained his savings and dumped into pension he wouldn’t be upset about it if there was no litigation
Edited by B9 on Friday 23 June 09:37
TX.
Genuinely no damages that I can imagine.
It’s absolutely not publicised or shared anywhere.
My view is that it’s very very unlikely that they’d win, and it’s perhaps just posturing to tell him to not do it again (or prevent him from thinking that he could perhaps do it for someone else), but they are renowned for claiming damages for anything and everything.
He’s now engaged with a law firm to defend but expects that alone to cost a few grand to simply reply
It’s absolutely not publicised or shared anywhere.
My view is that it’s very very unlikely that they’d win, and it’s perhaps just posturing to tell him to not do it again (or prevent him from thinking that he could perhaps do it for someone else), but they are renowned for claiming damages for anything and everything.
He’s now engaged with a law firm to defend but expects that alone to cost a few grand to simply reply
B9 said:
Copyright infringement, though odd because he’s never sold, shared, publicised etc - it’s the equivalent of taking a screenshot of something online, printing it for yourself, and hanging it in your front room.
It perhaps appears you may be over reacting, or it's very far from equivalent. What has really happened for you, sorry your friend, to be so fearful for all cash, house and pension etc?Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff