Legal Articles and Guides

After a five-year legal battle, Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) has been awarded the right to examine lottery operator Ithuba’s financial statements, says a Business Day report.

An Aliwal North woman has secured a R15m settlement from the Eastern Cape Health Department after the negligence of staff at two hospitals led to her baby being born with cerebral palsy.

Judgment in the matter between Hangberg residents and the City of Cape Town over the eviction and demolition of a family home in the area is expected today, says a Cape Argus report.

As expected, Guardrisk is to appeal the Western Cape High Court ruling that ordered the company to pay out the business interruption claims of Cape Town restaurant, Café Chameleon.

The Constitutional Court has dismissed an application for direct access by a group of concerned citizens who wanted to have the lockdown regulations declared invalid, and the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) declared inconsistent with the Constitution and Disaster Management Act, says a News24 report.

The Department of Public Enterprises and Eskom have confirmed they are in the process of implementing various legal mechanisms against both employees and former suppliers suspected of defrauding the SOE, says a Sunday Times report.

The SCA has dismissed an application by former VBS Bank chief executive Andile Ramavhunga and his wife, Zanele, who wanted leave to appeal a sequestration order, paving the way for their property to be seized and sold on auction, notes a TimesLIVE report.

Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), which previously managed the distribution of welfare grants to more than 17m South Africans, wants an application to halt its business rescue process in favour of liquidation dismissed and struck from the roll.

With business interruption insurance policies still the subject of court action, the financial services regulator has struck a telling blow for hundreds of small businesses facing ruin because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown by threatening action against short-term insurers refusing to pay out on claims caused by losses resulting from the pandemic.

An application to stop the sale of game at the Mawela Game Reserve in Mooi River was dismissed yesterday with costs by the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg).

Litigants involved in motor vehicle accidents ‘are being held at ransom’ by the failure of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) and its acting CEO Collins Letsoalo to perform their constitutional duties, according to a scathing judgment by Judge Wendy Hughes in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria).

The Competition Appeal Court has revisited a case it disposed of eight years ago when it ordered that the merged entity of Wal-Mart-Massmart reinstate 503 employees who were dismissed in 2009 and 2010 before the merger.

Objections that the state received from Muslim groups – some of whom accused legislators of attempting to interpret the Koran – made it difficult to enact laws recognising Muslim marriages.

SABC chief financial controller Maria Campher has been reinstated after she was dismissed from the public broadcaster after she refused to pay former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s R11m bonus.

Among a host of decisions announced bt the Competition Tribunal yesterday, it says it has found Dis-Chem guilty of charging excessive prices for surgical face masks to take advantage of heightened demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has ordered it to pay R1.2m.