In 2009, a clerical error by a UK government agency, Companies House, resulted in a 124-year-old Welsh engineering firm losing business and being dissolved. The agency meant to announce that Taylor & Son Ltd. was wound up, but instead added an “S” to the company name making the announcement read “Taylor & Sons Ltd.”, a different company. The mistake was corrected three days later, but the mistakenly listed company was unable to recover from the announcement and the loss of their orders, contracts, and credit led to Taylor & Sons being dissolved. The company successfully brought suit against Companies House and the agency was found responsible for the company’s end.
See, The £8.8m Typo: How One Mistake Killed a Family Business, The Guardian, Jan. 28, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
