KEEBLE CASE STUDY
Simon Burn Solicitors successfully defend company director from threatened disqualification
We successfully defended a complex case for the disqualification of Mr James Keeble as a company director, with Mr Keeble avoiding a threatened disqualification period of 10 years.
The claim followed the administration of CFO Lending Limited, an FCA regulated ‘payday loans’ provider.
The claim brought by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, alleged that Mr Keeble should be disqualified as a director on three grounds – because he had caused or allowed:
1. The misuse of customer banking information
2. Excessive use of continuous payment authorities
3. Inadequate record keeping related to debtors.
This case was particularly complex as it relates to Mr Keeble’s conduct as director of an FCA regulated business and the Secretary of State made considerable irrelevant and serious allegations against Mr Keeble which did not relate to his fitness to continue as a company director.
After a four day trial and the scrutiny of over 3000 pages of documentation, we successfully persuaded the Court that the Secretary of State had not provided sufficient evidence of Mr Keeble’s alleged wrongdoing in relation to any of the three grounds. Mr Keeble had not caused the regulatory breaches underpinning each of the three grounds, or where he had, he had reasonably relied on professional advice.
After assessing each of the three grounds for unfitness individually, Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Jones concluded:
“Incompetence on behalf of Mr Keeble has not been established for any of the Three Grounds and a cumulative assessment will obviously not alter that conclusion. I do not find him unfit to be a director based upon his conduct of as a director of CFO. The claim is dismissed.”
Mr Keeble avoided disqualification, recovered his costs and is free to continue as a company director.
We acted for Mr Keeble throughout, together with specialist counsel Mr Richard Ascroft of Guildhall Chambers.
Click here to read the full Judgment.
The claim followed the administration of CFO Lending Limited, an FCA regulated ‘payday loans’ provider.
The claim brought by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, alleged that Mr Keeble should be disqualified as a director on three grounds – because he had caused or allowed:
1. The misuse of customer banking information
2. Excessive use of continuous payment authorities
3. Inadequate record keeping related to debtors.
This case was particularly complex as it relates to Mr Keeble’s conduct as director of an FCA regulated business and the Secretary of State made considerable irrelevant and serious allegations against Mr Keeble which did not relate to his fitness to continue as a company director.
After a four day trial and the scrutiny of over 3000 pages of documentation, we successfully persuaded the Court that the Secretary of State had not provided sufficient evidence of Mr Keeble’s alleged wrongdoing in relation to any of the three grounds. Mr Keeble had not caused the regulatory breaches underpinning each of the three grounds, or where he had, he had reasonably relied on professional advice.
After assessing each of the three grounds for unfitness individually, Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Jones concluded:
“Incompetence on behalf of Mr Keeble has not been established for any of the Three Grounds and a cumulative assessment will obviously not alter that conclusion. I do not find him unfit to be a director based upon his conduct of as a director of CFO. The claim is dismissed.”
Mr Keeble avoided disqualification, recovered his costs and is free to continue as a company director.
We acted for Mr Keeble throughout, together with specialist counsel Mr Richard Ascroft of Guildhall Chambers.
Click here to read the full Judgment.
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