The information given here is correct up to todays date: 1st November 2023, as Civil Procedure rules do change occasionally.
There are various types of legal entity in England and Wales, and it’s very important that you get the legal entity right, as, if you get it wrong you will waste time and costs, and may also find yourself paying costs to the other party.
The common types of legal entity:
- Individuals, including individuals carrying on business in their name – typically called Sole Traders.
- Partnerships (but not Limited Liability Partnerships)
- Private and Public Companies
- Limited Liability Partnerships, CIC’s
- Unincorporated Businesses
It’s very important to remember – Each legal entity has their own identity.
- You can get individuals who have their own businesses, who are sole traders but are trading as a different name.
- Then, with Partnerships, you may not know they are a Partnership as the name might not identify that they are one. You won’t know for certain just by the name.
- Companies, Limited Liability Partnership and CIC’s, these can all be found on Companies House. Which is a database of Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships. It’s a public database and you can get information on the types of companies that are registered under Companies House.
- Companies will usually have the word Limited at the end of their name, and that can either be abbreviated as LTD, or the word ‘Limited.’
- You also have Limited Liability Partnerships, which can also be found on Companies House and will have LLP after their name. Watch out for Companies that are registered as both LLP’s and Limited companies. There are many examples of big firms who have two different types of entity, so if you are engaging a company and are wanting to sue them, you need to make sure you are suing the right legal entity. This is really important to get right.
- Community Interest Companies will have CIC or C.I.C at the end of their name.
- Unincorporated businesses (such as charities) they will have Trustees who look after the organisation. You can search the Charity Register for the correct name.
The reason why you need to get the name right?
Under Practice Direction 16 of the Court Rules, paragraph 2.4 states:
The Claim Form must be headed with the title of the proceedings, including the full name of each party, where it is known:
(1) for an individual, the full name and title by which the person is known;
(2) for an individual carrying on business other than in their own name, the full name of the individual, the title by which they are known, and the full trading name (for example, Jane Smith ‘trading as’ or ‘T/as’ ‘JS Autos’);
(3) for a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership (LLP))—
(a) where partners are sued in the name of the partnership, the full name by which the partnership is known, together with the words “(a Firm)”; or
(b) where partners are sued as individuals, the full name of each partner and the title by which each is known;
(4) for a company or limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales, the full registered name, including suffix (plc, Limited, LLP, etc), if any;
(5) for any other company or corporation, the full name by which it is known, including suffix where appropriate.
This applies to letters of claim, because if you address to the wrong company or legal entity, you’ll either not get a response or get a response saying; ‘this is nothing to do with us.’
It’s very important to get the name right and identify WHO you are suing.
You can find out who you are suing via documentation. Limited Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships are required to set out on their letterheads and invoices that they are a Limited Company. They are also required to set out their company number, name and address too, whereas individuals are not required to do this. Don’t assume someone is a sole trader if they don’t have these details visible.