Published Court Orders
When does a commercial dispute become an insolvency problem?
By Wessel Robertson | Director An unpaid account usually begins as a dispute between two businesses. The creditor believes payment is due, while the debtor questions the work, disputes the amount or promises to pay once a temporary cash-flow problem has been...
Orange, green and red: The Nike sneaker that started a trademark fight
By Chezanne Haigh | Consultant Images from Plaintiff's Complaint (Civil Action No. 3:26-cv-2201) At first glance, the dispute between 7-Eleven and Nike feels almost absurd. Can a convenience store really claim rights in a colour combination? That is the question many...
Visitor data at the gate: Is your estate communicating clearly enough?
By Ali Sonday | Associate Director Residential estates collect personal information every day at the gate. Visitor names, vehicle details, access times, ID-linked information, CCTV footage, resident profiles and contractor records are often gathered as part of...
A Decision Six Years Late is not only Late. It may be Unlawful.
By Lucinda Verster | Director In business, delay is often treated as a cost of doing business. In litigation, particularly regulatory litigation, delay can be far more serious. It can affect evidence, memory, fairness and confidence in the institution making the...
Data Breach Triage and the Insurer’s first 72 hours
By Jodi Poswelletski | Director For insurers, the question is no longer whether a data incident is possible. The more useful question is whether the organisation knows what it will do when personal information may already be at risk. This is the premise behind “data...
From Berlin with caution: AI and the blurred lines of trade mark use
By Chezanne Haigh | Consultant There is a growing sense that courts are beginning to draw lines around artificial intelligence. The recent decision by the Berlin Regional Court II (Case No. 52 O 62/26 eV) is a good example of that shift. It may not have made...
Disagreeing with a Court Order is not a Compliance Strategy
By Wessel Robertson | Director A business may have strong reasons for disagreeing with a court order. The order may be commercially disruptive, operationally difficult, or, in the company’s view, wrong in law or fact. There may be grounds for appeal, variation,...
“I Want to Thank Myself”
By Chezanne Haigh | Consultant When is a phrase worth protecting? When Mirra Andreeva lifted the French Open trophy, her tennis did most of the talking. Her jacket, however, made sure there was a little extra conversation. Across the back was a line that felt made...
No Second Bite. Court Confirms the Higher Threshold for Leave to Appeal
By Zolani Dhlamini | Director and Keitumetse Khutsoane | Associate In April 2026, the Pietermaritzburg High Court set aside a subpoena issued against the Auditor-General of South Africa (“AGSA”), finding that it had not been issued for a bona fide or lawful purpose...
Is “Pattie Gonia” parody… or a brand too far?
By Chezanne Haigh | Consultant Images from Court Exhibit There’s something intriguing about the recent dispute between environmental drag artist Pattie Gonia and outdoor apparel giant Patagonia that goes beyond a typical trademark case. On paper, it looks...
The price of dishonesty in the Auditing Profession
By David Short | Director and Amanda Kubheka | Candidate Attorney The integrity of financial reporting depends heavily on the trustworthiness of the professionals who perform audits. When that trust is compromised from within, the consequences can be serious, not only...
High Court confirms that misrepresentation can invalidate a Mutual Separation Agreement
By David Short | Director and Amanda Kubheka | Candidate Attorney The Western Cape Division of the High Court in Cape Town has delivered an important judgment on the consequences of failing to disclose material conflicts of interest before concluding a mutual...
A Valid Will is not Always Enough
By Jane Black (née Rushton) | Director Many people assume that if they have a valid Will in place, their estate planning is complete. In reality, a Will is only one part of the broader estate planning process. A Will may be legally enforceable and carefully drafted,...
Trading Property for Shares: A Strategic Way to Move Assets into a Company
By Sarah Nordien | Associate Director Most property transactions follow a familiar script where a purchaser pays a purchase price, transfer duty may be triggered, and capital gains tax (CGT) is assessed at the point of disposal. But there is another route - one that...
Payments During Business Rescue can still be Clawed Back
By Dhahini Naidu | Director When a company enters business rescue, creditors often focus on the immediate commercial question. Can the company keep trading and can payments still be accepted? A Western Cape High Court judgment, now left undisturbed after the Supreme...
Waiting for Disclosure
By Wessel Robertson | Director When liquidation happens mid-litigation, silence can be costly Litigation can sometimes feel like a long-running stage production. Pleadings are exchanged, attorneys correspond, dates are diarised, costs are incurred and everyone...
PAIA Annual Report deadline: 30 June 2026
The Information Regulator’s eServices portal opened on 1 May 2026 and will close at 23:59 on 30 June 2026 for the 2025/26 PAIA reporting period. Every public and private body must file its annual report on access-to-information requests for the year ended 31 March...
Estate Duty Planning Between Spouses
By Jane Rushton | Director Making effective use of sections 4(q) and 4A Estate planning is often approached as a process of deciding who should inherit which assets. While that is an important starting point, it does not fully address the tax consequences of how those...
When Private Conduct Becomes a Public Standard of Accountability
By David Short | Director and Amanda Kubheka | Candidate Attorney The proceedings involving Judge President Selby Mbenenge and Ms Andiswa Mengo have attracted significant public attention that extends beyond the bench. While the circumstances are unique to the...
Guarantee or Suretyship?
By Wessel Robertson | Director Why the Distinction Affects Enforcement Commercial agreements often include supporting obligations intended to improve a creditor’s prospects of recovery if the principal debtor defaults. These may be described as guarantees,...
When “Getting Paid” Comes Back to Bite
By Wessel Robertson | Director Settlement Agreements in Insolvency Contexts There is a certain relief in reaching a settlement. The dispute is resolved, terms are agreed and payment is on the horizon. But where the counterparty is financially distressed, that sense of...
Constitutional Court Confirms Limits on Labour Appeals and Awards Costs in Dispute Arising from Terminated Municipal Services Agreement
By Riaan du Plessis | Director The Constitutional Court has delivered a useful judgment for municipalities, organs of state, and private service providers involved in outsourcing and insourcing arrangements. In King Cetshwayo District Municipality v Water and...
Academic Exclusion and Urgent Court Relief
By Adela Petersen | Director and Jessica Jaftha | Associate Guidance for universities and other academic institutions When a student urgently asks a court to let them continue attending classes while challenging an academic exclusion, the legal question is not simply...
When a Debtor Dies, can you Still Recover the Debt?
By Wessel Robertson | Director The real question is whether there is anything worth pursuing The death of an entrepreneur can turn an already difficult recovery matter into something far more complicated. On paper, a lender or development fund may still have clear...
Business Rescue vs Liquidation
By Dhahini Naidu | Director Does a rescue filing stop a provisional winding-up order? What happens where a business rescue application is filed after a liquidation application has already been argued, but before judgment in the liquidation matter is delivered? A...