Gerald Eve is suing DLA Piper after the agent settled a professional negligence claim with Northern Rock over mortgage valuations it made on flats at the West End Quay development in Paddington,
In the claim, filed at the high court on 25 October, the agent demands the law firm contribute towards the £1.6m it agreed to pay Northern Rock in September after the bank sued over alleged negligent valuations.
During 2003, Northern Rock loaned £6.75m on 15 flats in the development to a company called Matan Beseser.
Subsequently, on 30 June 2004, the company defaulted on the loans and the flats were repossessed. On 13 April 2005, the bank sold the flats to Trinity Corp for £5.15m.
The bank sued both Gerald Eve and DLA Piper for the shortfall. That claim, which Gerald Eve now repeats, alleged that DLA Piper had failed to report that a middleman, Maksim Wine, was involved in the transactions and would be making a profit in excess of £2m on the deals and allegedly failed to properly investigate title to the flats.
