Salaried partner not liable to property clients
Section 14 of the Partnership Act 1890 provides for a person to be liable as a partner where: First, the person in question has been held out as a partner in a firm; and, Secondly, two further...
View ArticleCourt draws line under property solicitor’s liability
In deciding whether a law firm has been negligent towards a property client the court must decide what was the scope of the law firm’s engagement? Secondly if the engagement covered the relevant...
View ArticleLosses of solicitor’s negligence largely cancelled by buyers’ damage...
In a legal transaction a solicitor should advise the client on all information, that the solicitor should have gleaned from due diligence, that might have a bearing on the price the client is paying...
View ArticleStructural Engineers not liable for Contractor’s negligence
Construction professionals’ duty to warn may be analysed as follows: 1. We must first decide what the scope of the contractual duties and services were. The scope of the duty to warn and the...
View ArticleTime limits in negligence cases: appellants had insufficient actual or...
In a claim for damages for negligence the right to sue accrues at the date that damage occurs, even if no-one knows about the damage at the time. To stop the limitation period for suing running...
View ArticleReceivers owed no duty of care directly to bankrupt mortgagor
Where a mortgagor is subject to the appointment by the mortgagee of a receiver over the mortgaged property the receiver owes a duty to the mortgagor to look after the property if and to the extent that...
View ArticleSolicitor should have disclosed price discrepancy to lender
In the Court of Appeal case of Mortgage Express Ltd v Bowerman & Partners [1996] Millett LJ said; “…..A solicitor who acts for [buyer and lender in] a transaction owes a duty of confidentiality to...
View ArticleRemoval of planning condition abolished claimants’ loss
In the Court of Appeal case of Bacciottini & Anor v Gotelee and Goldsmith (A Firm) [2016], the appellants had acquired a residential property in May 2007. The respondent solicitors had negligently...
View ArticleSolicitors’ application to Land Registry was negligent misstatement
What follows is a cautionary tale. In Chief Land Registrar v Caffrey & Co [2016] clients sent their solicitors a Form DS1 Land Registry discharge purportedly signed on behalf of their bank to...
View ArticleOwner owed measured duty of care to contain damp
A person may owe a “measured duty of care” to take reasonable steps to resolve or reduce hazards on that person’s land, which that person either foresaw, or which that person ought reasonably to have...
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