Description
Costs appeal raising the issue of whether supervening incapacity automatically terminates a solicitor's contract of retainer.
Held: Although an agent's authority terminates automatically upon the mental incapacity of their principal (subject to ostensible authority or liability for breach of warranty), loss of capacity does not, in itself, have the legal effect of frustrating or otherwise terminating an underlying contract of retainer.
Findley v Barrington Jones [2009] EWHC 90130 (Costs) based on a misreading of
Yonge v Toynbee [1909] 1 KB 215 and without regard to the doctrine of frustration.
Appeal allowed. The loss of capacity did not frustrate the Conditional Fee Agreement. Defendant's application to strike out the claimant's Bill of Costs dismissed.
