Mason accountant in legal row
An accountant and insolvency practitioner is being sued by a fellow mason who claims he was forced to close his health and beauty company after being given negligent advice.
Robert Young, secretary of Camden Masonic Lodge, is suing lodge member Norman Davis, of Lane Heyward Davis, for damages after his companies SHE (Hastings) Ltd and Proteus Investments Ltd were dissolved.
According to Young’s claim form and attached particulars of claim, Davis and his colleague at the firm, James Austin, also a defendant, acted negligently and his companies were not insolvent as claimed and should not have been wound up.
Young is also suing fellow mason Leslie Kostick, who lent Pounds 50,000 to him through Swiss company Attendus Treuhandgessellschaft, also a defendant.
Young met the three in 1996 when Kostick claimed Young had stolen money from him in relation to a business venture and that Youngs’ companies should be wound up. Young, who denies the allegations, said Davis remained silent, and because of this Young believed Kostick had the power to wind up the companies.
Young looked to Davis for advice, as they had a business relationship, and Young trusted Davis who was a friend, fellow mason and financial expert, according to the claim and attached particulars.
Austin was appointed administrative receiver of SHE and receiver of Proteus and sold the companies’ assets. Young was later served with a bankruptcy petition.
Youngs’ claim includes injunctions compelling the defendants to restore Proteus and SHE to the register of companies, and damages for negligence.
A solicitor for Lane Heyward Davis said on behalf on Davis that there was no truth in the allegations and that an application was being made for the claim to be struck out. On behalf of Austin he said that the receiverships were conducted properly and that Young had been kept informed of what was happening. Kostick said: ‘There is no case to comment on’.