A new ruling from the Glostrup Court clearly shows that it is important to make sure who you are dealing with and whether that person can afford to pay for the goods or services delivered. In the case, an animal hospital had performed operations on a horse for approximately DKK 60,000. The horse had been handed in by an elderly man who truthfully stated that the horse was owned by his daughter but provided his own address as the address to which the invoice should be sent.
The animal hospital in question subsequently sent the bill to the man's address, but it was not paid. The hospital took the man to court and obtained a judgment against him when he acknowledged that it was he who had ordered the work. However, it turned out that the man was unable to pay, so the hospital subsequently chose to take the case to the daughter, who was the owner of the horse. The daughter, who was represented by Attorney (L) Søren Vasegaard Andreasen, was however acquitted, as she had not been aware of the operation until afterwards, and she had not given her father power of attorney to act on her behalf.
The case is a classic example of the risk that a business owner takes when they allow a customer to trade on credit without checking the underlying circumstances beforehand. If you are a business owner, we always recommend that you carry out an identity check and a credit check on your customers before you allow them to trade on credit. If you are a customer of ours, we carry out credit checks for you as part of our regular work, which is why you can always contact us for further information on whether you should allow a specific person or company to trade on credit with you.
For further information about the lawsuit, contact attorney Søren Vasegaard Andreasen by email: sva@paragrafadvokaterne.dk or phone 82 82 82 42.
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