Caught out by the court fee: a forewarning on issuing claims protectively 01 February 2016 Max-Wilson access to justice, cpr, limitation, procedure, professional negligence (0) Facts The case of Richard Lewis & Others v Ward Hadaway [2015] EWHC 3503 (Ch) concerned 31 professional negligence claims brought against a firm of solicitors relating to conveyancing transactions. In the pre-action correspondence, the individual claims were each valued in the hundreds of thousands with a collective worth of £9 million. However, when the Claimants’ solicitors f... [More]
Professionals, allegations of fraud, and witness credibility 28 January 2016 Andrew-Spencer case report, evidence, fraud, witnesses (0) The headline outcome from Mansion Estates Ltd v Hayre & Co (A Firm) (2016) is HHJ Saffmann considering that it is no less “inherently improbable” that a solicitor would set out to mislead the court than any other person, and going on to find that the Defendant’s documents were “materially compromised”. This was not a case where the judge could find one party had &... [More]
Is an extension to the SAAMCO principle on the horizon? 20 November 2015 Max-Wilson Causation, duty of care, Lender claims, liability, professional negligence, solicitors, trust, valuers (0) Background Property valuation is seldom an exact science; it involves the consideration of both present factors and future contingencies. With the property crashes of the last two decades came a wealth of litigation considering both the scope of the duty of care owed by valuers to lenders and the extent to which losses caused by negligent valuations are recoverable. One such case which t... [More]
No dual test for remoteness, says the Court of Appeal 15 November 2015 Geoffrey-Weddell Appeals, case report, Causation, damages, foreseeability, professional negligence (0) The test for remoteness in tort is damage that is reasonably foreseeable. However the test for remoteness in contract is damage that ought to be in the reasonable contemplation of the parties. There are differences between the two. Damage can be reasonably foreseeable (in which case it satisfies the remoteness test in tort) but also highly unusual or unlikely, such as a particularly lucrative cont... [More]
Valuation not negligent in light of earlier transaction: Titan Europe v Colliers 04 November 2015 Ivor-Collett (0) The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court trial judge’s decision that a valuer was negligent on a large commercial valuation. The valuation related to commercial property in Germany and the valuation provided in December 2005 was €135 million. The trial judge applied a bracket of 15% because of the unusual nature of the property and held that the true value at that ti... [More]
Standstill agreement covers deceit claims 30 October 2015 Ivor-Collett (0) The Court of Appeal has held that a standstill agreement in a lender claim against valuers was broad enough to cover claims for fraud despite being expressed to deal with claims in negligence and breach of contract. At the time when the lender sent the Letter of Claim – relating to 46 valuations – no fraud was suspected. It alleged negligence and breach of contr... [More]
Will the introduction of adjudication in Professional Negligence cases have the same impact as the introduction of a similar scheme in the Construction Court? 26 October 2015 Francesca-ONeill General, insurance, liability, professional negligence, public hearing, public policy (0) On 1 February 2015 a voluntary pilot scheme for the adjudication of solicitors’ professional negligence claims was launched. Mr Justice Ramsey was to consider three test cases (with a quantum value of £100,000 or less) with feedback on those cases due to be provided by June 2015. It is now nearly November 2015, and not much has been heard: the latest update is that only one pilot case ... [More]
Relieved: Bernie Ecclestone and Lord Prescott succeed where Andrew Mitchell failed 20 October 2015 Katie-Ayres (0) What do Bernie Ecclestone and Lord Prescott have in common? No, I’m not referring to some sort of connection based on multiple car ownership or attempting to start a ‘who would you invite to your dinner party’ discussion. What if I add Andrew Mitchell to that list? The costs practitioners amongst you will certainly now have realised that this unlike... [More]
Facts about damage that are “material” under s14A(7) of the Limitation Act 1980 11 October 2015 Nicola-Atkins (0) Blakemores v Scott and another [2015] EWCA Civ 999 concerned a claim by a firm of solicitors for outstanding fees in excess of £635,000 allegedly owed under CFAs entered into in 2009. The Appellants had instructed Blakemores to apply to the Land Registry to close title to correct a mistake on the register under paragraph 5(a) of schedule 4 to the Land Registration Act 2002 (the “... [More]
"Same Damage" - Section 1 of the Contribution Act of 1978 21 September 2015 Saleem-Khalid (0) An old conundrum was posed during a recent TCC hearing I had: what exactly is meant by ‘same damage’ within the meaning of section 1 of the Contribution Act of 1978? The background of the instant case concerned a compromise in the original action that had been effected on different bases to that being alleged for the contribution claim. It was held that the mechanism/allega... [More]