Company Law · The Business and Property Courts (Business List)
Thomas James Francis & Ors v Silver Law LLP
Checked against the judgment on 5 September 2026 · how we verify
Facts
The applicants — Thomas James Francis, Oakleigh Ventures Ltd, Patrick Higham, Adegboyega Bello and Henchoz Family Investment Ltd — were former clients of Silver Law LLP (previously Silver Shemmings Ash LLP), which acted for them in 2019 on the purchase of long leasehold interests in units at a development at Kings Waterfront, Liverpool, from Artisan H (Kings Waterfront) Ltd. Contracts were exchanged between July and September 2019 and deposits paid, but the developer went into insolvent administration before completion, the administrators sold the development, and there is no prospect of the deposits being recovered. The applicants allege that the LLP was professionally negligent in failing to advise and in failing to take steps that would have protected the deposits. The LLP ceased trading in July 2021, its business passing to Fletcher Day Limited, which was itself closed following an SRA intervention and wound up in 2023. The LLP was struck off on 27 August 2024 and dissolved on 3 September 2024, leaving the applicants a claim against its insurers under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010. The applicants instructed Penningtons Manches Cooper in April 2025; unknown to them, the County Court at Central London restored the LLP to the register on 4 June 2025. They applied for a limitation direction under section 1032(3) of the Companies Act 2006.
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