What to Know When Claiming against a Dissolved Company

There are many reasons why you might want to make a claim against a dissolved company. It may be for faulty goods or defective work. If you were an employee of that company, you may have a pension owed to you or even compensation for illness or injury as a result of your work.
Making such claims at the best of times is hard work, but what do you do if the company concerned no longer exists?
Dissolution
When a company is dissolved, its remaining assets pass to the Crown. This process is called by the Latin term Bona Vacantia, or ‘ownerless property’. The property that will be subject to this can include land, mortgages, shares, and intellectual property. The company is struck off the Register of Companies and ceases to exist as a legal entity.
It’s not possible to take legal action against a company that doesn’t exist, so in order to make a claim against such a company, it’s first necessary to get it reregistered. To do this you’ll need to get a court order.
Restoring a Company
There is a legal process available to restore a company to the register, however, you have to meet certain criteria in order to take advantage of it. This course of action applies if you were a director or shareholder at the time of dissolution, or if you’re responsible for administering the pension fund.
Otherwise you must have done business with the company in the past, or been one of their employees. You can also take this approach if the company owed you money at the time of its dissolution, or if you have a competing interest in land or assets held in the company name.
How Do You Go about It?
So you meet at least one of those criteria, and you want to restore the company to the register. What next?
The application to restore a company can be made under the provisions of section 1029 of the Companies Act (2006); this can generally be done for up to six years from dissolution. To do this, you need to complete a ‘Claim to Restore by Court Order’ form (N208). You need to pay a fee and provide a witness statement outlining your reasons for the application.
Assuming your claim is accepted, you’ll receive an order that will need to be forwarded, by you, to the Registrar of Companies. They will complete the practicalities of restoration.
Once the company is restored, you have three options for pursuing your claim: to get a court judgment for the amount you’re owed, to issue a statutory demand, or to take out a winding up petition.
Getting Legal Help
In a process like this, it would be inadvisable to take action without having good legal guidance. If you need to make a claim against a company that has been dissolved, contact Wilson Browne Solicitors and we’ll give you the advice you need to take your claim forward.