UK: England and Wales: directors' disqualification and extenuating circumstances

The ICLR has published a summary of the Court of Appeal's recent decision Cathie v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2012] EWCA Civ 739: see here. The summary's headnote reads:

In the context of determining whether to disqualify a company director for misconduct in the direction of an insolvent company the use of the expression “exceptional circumstances” was better avoided. The expression “extenuating circumstances” was to be preferred, because the fact finder’s task was to consider the evidence as a whole, including extenuating circumstances, and to decide whether the director had fallen below the standards of probity and competence appropriate for persons fit to be company directors".