Legal

“Whistleblowing should be encouraged. Employees who risk occupational detriments by making bona fide and reasonable disclosures about irregularities at the workplace if their attempts to have the employer address such irregularities, fall on deaf ears, must be protected” (extract, Labour Court judgment below) Last month (see “Whistle(Blowing) While You Work”), we looked at the case of a mining engineer who was dismissed by his employers after he made public disclosures relating to the inadequacy of their pollution prevention measures.  The Court set aside his dismissal after finding that his disclosures were protected in terms of the Protected Disclosures Act (“PDA”).…

“The Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!'”  (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland) Your spouse’s adulterous affair ruins your happy marriage – can you, as the “innocent” spouse, sue the “third party” for damages? Our law has for centuries recognised such damages claims for adultery, and these are usually based on – Insult or injury to your self-esteem (“Contumelia” in lawyer-speak), and/or “Loss of comfort and society” of your spouse (loss of “Consortium”). (more…)

"Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack” (Sun Tzu)   It’s an all-too-common scenario.  When you try to recover your money from a debtor, you find that all his/her assets (including the luxury home, holiday house and ocean-going yacht) are held by a family or business trust. (more…)

Residential property developers need to note the recent Constitutional Court judgment confirming that you must register with the NHBRC (National Home Builder's Registration Council) before you conclude a building contract or commence building – if you don’t (or if you register late) you cannot enforce payment.  In fact you commit a criminal offence just by accepting any payment. It is not enough that whichever building contractor/s you use to do the actual construction is/are registered – both you as developer and your contractor/s must be registered. (more…)

Prior to the enactment of the Companies Act (71 of 2008) (the new Act), the winding up of close corporations and companies was regulated by the Close Corporations Act, (69 of 1984) (the CC Act) and the Companies Act (61 of 1973) (the old Act) respectively. Section 68 of the CC Act provided the grounds upon which a court could liquidate a close corporation. Section 68(c), in particular, stated that a close corporation could be wound up by a court if the corporation was “unable to pay its debts”. In terms of s 69, a close corporation would be deemed…