Days ago a lawyer's answer to these questions would have been the all too often heard "well, it depends". There would have been a serious risk of any such adjudication being stopped by the court granting a mandatory injunction to halt it. Ask the same questions again now and the response would be a resounding "yes and yes!"

The Western Cape High Court^[1] has recently passed judgment in a decision which reiterates the bounds of the duties of directors of holding companies to subsidiary companies.  Even though the case involved a damages claim against the liquidators of the holding company (in liquidation), the principle applies equally to directors.