Professional Indemnity Insurance


Wasted costs order

Abdulla Ahmed Rasoul v (1)Giedrilis Linkevicius (2)Groupama Insurance Company Limited (2012)


Where parties are litigating, there are circumstances where a Court can order one party’s solicitor or barrister to pay personally towards the other party’s costs. Such orders are known as ‘wasted costs orders’. [Read more...]

 

Lessons from the man on the Clapham omnibus.


In a charming eccentricity of the English legal system there’s a hypothetical set of characters entrenched in statute that play the part of ordinary — and not so ordinary — people when a court comes to weigh up cases. [Read more...]


Pre-Action conduct and Part 36 Offers: costs implications.

Webb Resolutions Limited v Waller Needham & Green (a firm) – (11 December 2012)


The Claimant, a lender, brought a negligence claim against the Defendant solicitors. The claim was settled when in May 2012 the Defendant accepted a Part 36 Offer (that is, a settlement offer made in accordance with the Court Rules). [Read more...]

 

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.


With so many providers offering indemnity insurance — with varying features, benefits and prices (often the most important factor) — which do you choose? And do you know what you’re paying for? [Read more...]

Santa Claus is (hopefully) coming to town


As the nights draw in, and the smell of mulling wine drifts gently from the kitchen hob, consider the predicament of poor old Father Christmas. [Read more...]


Tax benefits taken into account when assessing damages in commercial valuation cases

Capita Alternative Fund Services (Guernsey) Limited (2) Matrix-Securities Limited (In Administration) v Drivers Jonas (A Firm)  - (8 November 2012)


The claim related to a failed investment at a Factory Outlet shopping centre in Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent. [Read more...] 

                                                    

What can Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Henry Ford can tell you about your business?


There’s a fine line between success and failure, and even the most well-meaning, honest opinions can turn into bad advice. If you’re in the business of helping people make engineering decisions, make sure you don’t get burned by opinions and services you give in good faith. [Read more...] 

 

Defendant's poor conduct of litigation had cost penalties

Mortgage Agency Services Number Four Ltd v Alomo Solicitors (A Firm) (2011) (25 October 2011)


The Borrower applied for 4 mortgages from the Claimant to purchase 4 properties.  The Borrower did not tell the Claimant that he was buying them through a company which he owned and was receiving cash back, making the mortgage advance more than the purchase price.  The Borrower was paying 40% more for the properties than the company and the company owned them for just one day. [Read more...]  

 

Public Liabilty vs. Professional Indemnity


Professional indemnity insurance can often be confused with other covers. Most commonly it is confused with Public Liability, when it is in fact very different. This confusion can lead many people to not recognise that they need the cover or how invaluable it can be to them. [Read more...] 


Implementation of 'the Jackson' 10% increase in general damages


A decision of the Court of Appeal on 12 October 2012 (Christopher Simmons v Derek Castle) considered the implementation of Sir Jackson's proposal that general damages in tort cases should be increased by 10%. [Read more...] 

 

Waseem Shakoor v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs


This recent decision of the Tax Tribunal considered whether a tax payer who relied on professional advice from their accountant in relation to a tax return, which ultimately turned out to be wrong, acted negligently so as to give rise to a penalty. [Read more...] 

 

Summers v Fairclough Homes Ltd (2012) UKSC 60


The Claimant brought a personal injury claim against his employer, the Defendant.  Liability was established in a trial in August 2007 and a separate trial was listed to quantify damages. [Read more...] 

 

Claimant accepts Part 36 offer 2 years out of time and recovers all costs


On 2 August 2012 the Court of Appeal permitted the Claimant to accept a Part 36 offer of settlement 2 years after it was made with no adverse costs consequences. [Read more...]

 

Termination of a Solicitor's Retainer and Liens

French v Carter Lemon Camerons LLP 2011 EWHC 3252 (QB) (3 September 2012)


This recent decision of the Court of Appeal considers and reinforces the circumstances in which a solicitor is entitled to terminate a retainer and exercise a lien over a client's papers (i.e. a right to retain such papers) in respect of unpaid fees. [Read more...] 

 

Causation in lender claims


Platform Funding Limited v Anderson & Associates Limited (2012) EWHC 1853 (QB) 10 July 2012

Anderson & Associates Ltd (AA) valued Flat 25, Hill House in August 2006 at £275,000.  In reliance on that valuation Platform Funding Limited (PFL) advanced approximately £251,000 to the borrower buying the property.  The borrower subsequently defaulted on the repayments; PFL repossessed the property and sold it in January 2008 at a considerable loss. [Read more...] 

 

Herrmann v Withers LLP (2012) EWHC 1492 (Ch)


This recent decision of the High Court considered the dangers of solicitors failing to properly caveat advice, but also provides useful commentary on the duty of Claimants to mitigate their losses. [Read more...]

 

Binding contracts in relation to two construction projects 

Merit Process Engineering Ltd v Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (HY) Ltd


A decision of the Technology and Construction Court on 28 May 2012 (Merit Process Engineering Ltd v Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (HY) Ltd, considered whether the parties had formed binding contracts in relation to two construction projects. [Read more...] 

 

Refusal to mediate

Swain Mason v Mills & Reeve (2012) EWCA Civ 498 (23 April 2012)


This recent decision of the Court of Appeal considered whether a party's refusal to mediate was unreasonable and whether this should be taken into account when deciding the issue of costs. [Read more...] 

 

Fiduciary duty claims and limitation

Mortgage Express v Abensons Solicitors (A Firm) (2012) EWHC 1000 (March 2012)


The Borrower, Mr Consett, applied to Mortgage Express in 2004 for loans to fund 4 purchases.  The borrower was a director and shareholder in the company building the properties and he owned the land which the properties were built on.  He sold the properties to his company for nil consideration and then repurchased them the same day for full consideration using the mortgage funds. [Read more...]