Solicitors Maples Teesdale is seeking summary judgment in a claim made against the firm by Royal Mail Estates after a £20m Kensington property sale fell through.
The firm is seeking an early victory without what it says would be a substantial trial of the action brought by Royal Mail Estates (RME), which ultimately sold its property for £14.9m.
RME hopes to win the difference of £5.1m from Maples Teesdale, but the solicitors today applied for summary judgment, branding the claim “opportunistic and most unfair”. Deputy judge J Klein has reserved his decision on the application, and is expected to give it in the next month.
Particulars of claim in the action filed by RME state that in 2008 it agreed to sell a property at 24 Earls Court Road, Kensington, W8, for £20m to an offshore company to be nominated by Borzou Shirazi, who instructed Maples Teesdale to act for him.
Contracts exchanged on 19 December 2008, but RME says that the nominated company, Kensington Gateway Holdings, was not incorporated until two months later. As a result, it claims that Maples Teesdale was personally liable under the agreement.
RME says that, within 30 days of it providing a confirmation notice to the effect that it would be able to vacate the premises, the buyer had to pay a £2m deposit, with completion due within six months of the confirmation date.
It claims it first served a confirmation notice on 23 September 2010, a second on 24 November 2010 and a third on 7 February 2011.
However, it alleges that no deposit was paid and the agreement was repudiated.
In November 2012, the property was sold to Minerva Properties for £14.9m, and RME seeks to recover the difference in the two sale prices from Maples Teesdale, plus interest.
Seeking summary judgment in its favour, Maples Teesdale argued that the contract was adopted by the nominated company following incorporation through the steps it took to obtain planning permission for a high-class residential scheme.
Royal Mail Estates Ltd v Maples Teesdale Chancery (Deputy judge J Klein) 2 June 2015
