We acted for a development company that had a project in the South West of England. The main contractor on the project went into liquidation leaving some suppliers unpaid. A supplier who had supplied railings to the project claimed that they could take back the railings supplied because they had not been paid for. The supplier had a retention of title clause. We were able to overcome the retention of title clause by showing that the railings had been incorporated into the structure of the building making the clause inoperable. Our client was able to retain the railings.
We acted for a supplier of dry-cleaning equipment. Our client had supplied a dry-cleaning outlet which went into liquidation. The equipment supplied by our client had not yet been paid for. The administrator tried to prevent our client recovering machinery. However, our client company had an effective retention of title clause and, after proceedings were issued, the administrator returned the equipment to our client.