Negligence

A householder's claim for structural damage allegedly caused by tree roots failed because the expert evidence was equivocal and insufficient to show that the subsidence had been caused by tree roots rather than by soil heave. ......

The Defendants were granted summary judgment in respect of the Claimant's claim against members of the Bar Council and its employees in respect of a withdrawn prosecution relating to the Claimant's publication of an article in a magazine that he considered would be distributed within a small closed......

Professional Conduct. A solicitor used monies from his client account to meet the expenses of his practice. Those sums were repaid with interest. The solicitor accepted that he had been remiss in not advising his clients to obtain independent advice and in respect of two in not advising them of ......

Solicitors were not in breach of duty in handling a counterclaim brought by their clients in not ensuring that the opponent had adequate professional indemnity insurance cover in place, in agreeing to a substitution of parties before trial and not warning that there were strong reasons to suppose t......

This is an appeal against a decision of the Professional Conduct Committee of the General Dental Council (GDC) to erase the pursuer's name from the Dentists Register under section 27B(6)(a) of the Dentists Act 1984. Grounds for striking off: Mr Black held no membership of a defence organisatio......

Causation: Proceedings were brought against solicitors after a personal injuries action was struck out for want of prosecution under the old procedural rules. Liability was not in issue and in considering the damages for loss of a chance the Defendant solicitors took the same point as had been reli......

In a case concerning the unusual situation of counsel who had acted for the husband in financial proceedings in respect of his first wife and subsequently acted against the husband in financial proceedings with his second wife, the court allowed the second wife's appeal against the setting a......

Dispute concerning the amount of interest payable on a former partner's agreed share of the firm's assets. The pursuer submitted that an outgoing partner has an extra right to claim a higher rate of interest at common law. Held: There was no authority to support the proposition that an e......

In this post Anis Waiz, solicitor and head of commercial litigation at Curtis Law Solicitors, continues his critical review of current case law. This case raised an interesting issue as to whether the "Bowerman" duty to report to client lenders matters relevant to the valuation of the property (......

The appointment of solicitors to act for administrators of a company did not of itself create a duty of care to act owed to the company. Although administrators of a company were agents of the company the nature of their appointment did not give rise to all the usual obligations of an agent not ......

The tribunal had been entitled to suspend a solicitor indefinitely where in the course of complaint proceedings he had made numerous allegations against the Law Society and the judiciary of corruption and perversion of the course of justice. ......

In 1999 Mr Emmanuel joined a surgery as a partner and general practitioner. In January 2004 he was included on the first respondent care trust's medical performers list. In June 2008, the trust was informed of allegations relating to Mr Emmanuel, namely that he had engaged in an improper relationsh......

The obligations of a clearing broker in liquidating an investment fund's trading position were not subject to the statutorily implied term under s. 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. The contractual terms did not require any particular duty of care in that liquidation and it would be ......

Although the health authority accepted that it was in breach of duty in failing to control drug levels during labour, the judge had been entitled to find that this was not causative of the hypoxic event that caused damage to the brain. Although one part of the judgment was not fully reasoned that ......

Solicitors retained to advise on the exit from a limited liability partnership that formed part of the client's employer, an investment management group, were not under a duty to give comprehensive advice to her on a potential claim for sexual discrimination when this had only been mentioned as par......

Where a hospital was asked to provide a DNA analysis of foetus tissue it did not owe a non-delegable duty of care to the parents in respect of the testing. The non-delegable duty arguably owed to patients was of a different ilk. Where the independent testing laboratory had an admitted duty of care ......

A judge had not erred in his assessment of the damages to be awarded to the owner of a property following an architect's admitted breaches of duty in failing to recommend that an engineer's report be obtained in respect of known structural defects prior to conversion works being carried out......

In a White v Jones [1995] UKHL 5 situation the question of how the testator would have acted but for the solicitor's negligence was to be determined on a percentage change basis rather than the balance of probabilities. ......

Appellant solicitors successfully appealed against a decision refusing to strike out a claim brought against them by a former client the cause of action which had accrued in January 2004. The motive for a party breaching a contract is not a relevant ingredient to the cause of action the ignorance o......