Judgment
Judge Behrens :
1 Introduction
1. This is an appeal (permission having been given during the course of the hearing) against a decision of DJ Glentworth made on
2. The action concerns alleged professional negligence by a surveyor in relation to a valuation report made to a lender in contemplation of a remortgage of domestic property. The lender made a secured loan in reliance on the report. The borrower subsequently defaulted and the property was repossessed and resold. The lender suffered a loss on the resale which it seeks to recover from the surveyor.
3. The original valuation report was dated
4. On
5. Mr André seeks to appeal the decision on a number of grounds. His main ground of appeal is that DJ Glentworth should not have allowed the substitution of a new party after the expiry of the limitation period for the claim. As a subsidiary ground he contends that DJ Glentworth was wrong to refuse to admit the documents that he wished to adduce. In the event that the appeal is allowed he seeks summary judgment against Money Home Lending on the ground that Money Home Lending plainly has no cause of action against the Defendant.
6. Miss Linklater seeks to uphold the decision of DJ Glentworth substantially on the grounds she relied on below. Although she did not formally concede the point, Miss Linklater did not seriously contend that Money Home Lending had a cause of action against the Defendant. It follows that if substitution is refused the claim has no realistic prospects of success.
7. At the hearing of the appeal I admitted without objection further evidence from each side both in relation to the material that Mr André had wished to adduce before DJ Glentworth and in relation to subsequent events.
8. Both Counsel prepared detailed written submissions and referred me to authority. In the result the hearing before me lasted for the best part of a day after which I reserved judgment. I am in any event grateful to both Counsel for the considerable assistance they have given me in what is, to my mind, a by no means straightforward matter.
2 The facts
9. There is in fact very little dispute as to the facts relevant to this application. It is, however, necessary to set them out in more detail than the very brief summary already set out.
2.1 The Valuation and Loan
10. On
11. On 24th (or 26th) September 2003 Igroup Mortgages Ltd lent to Miss Daniels £216,000 pursuant to the terms of an interest only credit agreement. On the same day Miss Daniels duly executed a Mortgage Deed in favour of Igroup Mortgages Ltd charging the property with repayment of the sums due under the credit agreement.
2.2 Repossession and sale
12. The property was repossessed on
13. In the course of her submissions Miss Linklater drew to my attention documents that suggest first that
2.3 Corporate Structures
14. A Company search for Money Mortgages shows that it was incorporated on
15. According to Mrs Broadley (who had day to day conduct of the matter on behalf of Optima Legal) Igroup Mortgages Ltd (and thus Money Mortgages) is a subsidiary of IGroup Ltd. Money Home Lending acquired Igroup Ltd in 2001. Thus Money Mortgages is in fact a sub-subsidiary of Money Home Lending.
2.4 Pre-action correspondence
16. Mrs Broadley received instructions from the legal team at Money Home Lending to investigate a possible claim against the Defendant on about 30th June 2009. This was, of course, over 5 years from the valuation and nearly 3 years from the resale. No explanation has been put forward for this delay.
17. On
18. On
19. On
20. On
2.5 The Claim Form
21. The Claim Form was issued on
The Claimant claims damages and interest for breach of retainer and negligence arising out of the Claimant’s reliance upon the mortgage valuation on 22nd September 2003 (“the valuation”) in respect of Lower Ground Floor Flat, 14 Sevington Street, London W9 2QN (“the property”) for the purpose of a mortgage advance of £216,000 made by the Claimant on 26 September 2003 (“the advance”) to Miss P Daniels (“the borrower”). The property formed the Claimant’s security for the advance. The valuation prepared by the Defendant negligently over-valued the property. The borrowers defaulted on the mortgage, the property was repossessed and the Claimant has suffered loss on re-sale of the property.
22. It will be seen that it summarises the nature of the claim accurately. It identifies the borrower accurately. It gives the correct date for the valuation report. It identifies the amount of the advance. However it misidentifies the property by referring to a completely different property in London W9 and (of course) gets the name of the Claimant wrong. It also (though this is probably irrelevant) refers to the borrower in the plural. Not perhaps the finest piece of work by Optima Legal.
2.6 Service of the Claim Form
23. Under CPR 6.4(1)(b) the Court will serve the Claim Form except where the Claimant notifies the court that the Claimant wishes to serve it. However if the Court is required to serve the Claim Form the Claimant is, under CPR 6.4(3) to leave a copy with the Court for service. There is some confusion as to whether any such notification was given to the Court when Optima Legal attended court on
24. On
25. On
26. On the same day Optima Legal wrote to the Defendant stating that a protective writ had been issued and that the Court had served it in error. The letter identified Money Home Lending as the Claimant and
27. On
28. The matter was referred to DJ Giles who made an order on
29. Miss Linklater developed a submission with reference to CPR 7.4(2) and 7.5(1) (as amended) that she would in fact have been entitled to serve the Particulars of Claim 2 or 3 days after
30. It is not necessary for me to rule on this submission but it provisionally appears to me to be wrong for 2 reasons. First even if (as appears to be the case) the Claim Form was not received by the Defendant it was still posted by the Court and deemed to be served in accordance with the rules. Thus DJ Giles’ order was necessary to extend the time until
2.7 Correspondence in October 2009
31. On
32. On
33. It is thus plain that there were documents in Optima Legal’s possession in October 2009 which might have led them to realise that the lender was Money Mortgages and not Money Home Lending. Equally if Mrs Broadley had raised the matter specifically with the legal team at Money Home Lending she is likely to have been told that the lender was Money Mortgages and not Money Home Lending.
2.8 Discovery of the mistake.
34. On or about
2.9 Events leading up to the hearing before DJ Glentworth
35. On
36. Time was, of course, short. Mrs Broadley did not believe the Claim Form had been served. The Particulars of Claim were due by
37. On
38. On
39. The application to extend the time for the service of the Particulars of Claim was in fact issued on
40. On the same day (
41. On
2.10 The hearing before DJ Glentworth
42. As already noted the hearing took place at the end of DJ Glentworth’s list on
2.11 Subsequent events
43. On
44. On
45. In response to this Optima Legal filed a Respondent’s Notice on 1st April 2010 and two further witness statements dated 1st and 15th April 2010. In the Respondent’s Notice Money Mortgages seeks to rely on the contents of the draft Particulars of Claim that had been served prior to the hearing before DJ Glentworth. In the witness statement of
3 Substitution
3.1 The CPR
46. The application to substitute is brought under CPR 19.5 which, so far as relevant provides:
CPR 19.5(2) provides that:
“The court may add or substitute a party only if,
(a) the relevant limitation period was current when the proceedings were started, and
(b) the addition or substitution is necessary.”
19.5(3) provides that:
“The addition or substitution of a party is necessary only if the court is satisfied,
(a) the new party is to be substituted for a party who is named in the claim form in mistake for the new party.
(b) the claim cannot be properly carried on by, or against, the original party unless the new party is added or substituted as claimant or defendant, or
(c) the original party has died and/or a bankruptcy order made against him, and his interests or liabilities asked of the new party.”
3.2 The authorities
47. There have been a large number of authorities on this area of the law. Counsel were agreed that the current starting point is the decision of the Court of Appeal in Adelson v Associated Newspapers [2008] 1 WLR 585. In that case the Court of Appeal in the judgment of the court handed down by the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, sought to clarify what the court described in paragraph 5 as “a difficult area of procedural law”. The decision contains a full review of the relevant authorities and of the test to be applied. Furthermore in the recent decision in Lockheed Martin Group v Willis Group Ltd [2009] EWHC 1436 (QB) Beatson J analysed the decision in Adelson.
48. As Beatson J pointed out the court had regard to the predecessor of CPR, Rule 19.5, Order 20 r 5 because (see paragraph 47 of the judgment) the court considered that the new rules were intended to replicate the provisions of Order 20 r 5.
49. In paragraph 29 of the judgment the court pointed out:
Most of the problems in this area arise out of the difference, sometimes elusive, between an error of identification and an error of nomenclature. An error of identification will occur where a claimant identifies an individual as the person who has caused him an injury, intends to sue that person, describes him in the pleadings by the correct name, but then discovers that he has identified the wrong person as the person who has injured him. An error of nomenclature occurs where the claimant identifies the correct person as having caused him the injury, but describes him in the pleadings by the wrong name.
50. The Court then analysed the authorities under Order 20 r 5 including Mitchell v Harris Engineering [1967] 2 QB 703, Evans v Charrington [1983] 1 QB 810 and The Al Tawwab (“the Sardinia Sulcis”) [1991] 1 LL R 201 which was important because it involved a mistake in the name of the Claimant and because it laid down a test that had been followed. The test is derived from the judgment of Lloyd LJ at p 205 -6:
“The first point to notice is that there is power to amend under the rule even though the limitation period has expired: see O.20, r. 5(2). The second point is that there is power to amend, even though it is alleged that the effect of the amendment is to add a new party after the expiration of the limitation period. But the Court must be satisfied (1) that there was a genuine mistake, (2) that the mistake was not misleading, (3) that the mistake was not such as to cause reasonable doubt as to the identity of the person intending to sue, and (4) that it would be just to allow the amendment.”
51. He went on to set out what has been known as the Sardinia Sulcis test:
“In one sense a plaintiff always intends to sue the person who is liable for the wrong which he has suffered. But the test cannot be as wide as that. Otherwise there could never be any doubt as to the person intended to be sued, and leave to amend would always be given. So there must be some narrower test. In Mitchell v. Harris Engineering the identity of the person intended to be sued was the plaintiff’s employers. In Evans v. Charrington it was the current landlord. In Thistle Hotels v. McAlpine the identity of the person intending to sue was the proprietor of the hotel. In The Joanna Borchard it was the cargo-owner or consignee. In all these cases it was possible to identify the intending plaintiff or intended defendant by reference to a description which was more or less specific to the particular case. Thus if, in the case of an intended defendant, the plaintiff gets the right description but the wrong name, there is unlikely to be any doubt as to the identity of the person intended to be sued. But if he gets the wrong description, it will be other wise.”
52. In paragraph 43 the Court set out its conclusions as to the test to be applied in Order 20 r 5:
i) The mistake must be as to the name of the party in question and not as to the identity of that party. Such a mistake can be demonstrated where the pleading gives a description of the party that identifies the party, but gives the party the wrong name. In such circumstances a ‘mistake as to name’ is given a generous interpretation.
ii) The mistake will be made by the person who issues the process bearing the wrong name. The person intending to sue will be the person who, or whose agent, has authorised the person issuing the process to start proceedings on his behalf.
iii) The true identity of the person intending to sue and the person intended to be sued must be apparent to the latter although the wrong name has been used.
iv) Most if not all the cases seem to have proceeded on the basis that the effect of the amendment was to substitute a new party for the party named.
53. The Court then went on to consider CPR 17.4 and 19.5. In so doing it disapproved of the reasoning in three cases – Gregson v Channel 4 [2000] CP Rep 60, Morgan Est v Hanson Concrete [2005] 1 WLR 2557 and Weston v Gribben [2006] EWCA Civ 1425.
54. The Court’s ultimate conclusions on the law were set out in paragraphs 55 – 57 of the judgment. In paragraph 55 the court set out CPR 19.5(3)(a) and made two points:
It is clear from this language that the person who has made the mistake must be the person responsible, directly or through an agent, for the issue of the claim form. It is also clear that he must be in a position to demonstrate that, had the mistake not been made, the new party would have been named in the pleading.
55. In paragraph 56 the Court considered the nature of the mistake:
This Court has held that the mistake must be as to the name of the party rather than as to the identity of the party, applying the generous test of this type of mistake laid down in
56. In paragraph 57 the Court made some general observations:
Almost all the cases involve circumstances in which (i) there was a connection between the party whose name was used in the claim form and the party intending to sue, or intended to be sued and (ii) where the party intended to be sued, or his agent, was aware of the proceedings and of the mistake so that no injustice was caused by the amendment. In SmithKline, however, Keene LJ accepted that the
3.3 Discussion
57. In my view there is force in Mr André’s criticism that DJ Glentworth should have allowed him to refer to and rely on the letter of
58. However, the failure to admit the letter is by no means decisive of the appeal. As already noted the letter of
59. I turn then to consider the case in the light of the Court of Appeal guidance in Adelson.
Was there a Mistake?
60. It seems clear that Mrs Broadley made a mistake in issuing proceedings in the name of Money Home Lending and that in doing so she believed that Money Home Lending had lent the £216,000 to Miss Daniels. There is no reason to doubt Mrs Broadley’s evidence on this point. It is corroborated by the pre-action correspondence of 20th July 2009 and 2nd September 2009 both of which refer to the money being lent by “our client” defined as Money Home Lending.
61. In my view the letter of
62. It may well be that Mrs Broadley ought to have realised that the lender was not Money Home Lending before she did. Indeed it could be argued that she ought to have discovered this before the Claim Form was issued. However I have little difficulty in accepting that she did not in fact so realise and that she made a genuine mistake. I am equally satisfied that if she had so realised she would have issued the Claim Form in the name of Money Mortgages.
Was the mistake a mistake as to identity or as to name.
63. It will be recalled that the test proposed by the Court of Appeal was as follows:
Such a mistake can be demonstrated where the pleading gives a description of the party that identifies the party, but gives the party the wrong name. In such circumstances a ‘mistake as to name’ is given a generous interpretation.
64. This, of course, follows closely the judgment of Lloyd LJ in the Sardinia Sulcis to which I have referred.
65. I have set out the Indorsement on the Claim Form in full above. As can be seen it does give a description of the Claimant as the person who lent £216,000 to Miss Daniels on
66. In those circumstances it seems to me that this is “a mistake as to name” within the generous interpretation in the Sardinia Sulcis case.
Was the true identity of the person intending to sue and the person intended to be sued apparent to the latter although the wrong name has been used?
67. It will be recalled that the original mortgage valuation was carried out on the instructions of Esurv. It was addressed amongst others to Igroup Ltd, its subsidiaries, associates all of whom were entitled to rely on it. There is nothing in the report that identifies Igroup Mortgages Ltd as the potential lender. There is no evidence before me that in 2003 the Defendant was aware that the lender was Igroup Mortgages Limited as opposed to any other subsidiary or associate of Igroup Ltd.
68. Furthermore the pre-action correspondence would not have assisted the Defendant to identify Money Mortgages as the lender. As already noted both of the pre-action letters described Money Home Lending as the lender.
69. The first time that the Defendant would have been aware of the mistake and the true identity of the Claimant would have been when it received the application and the letter from Optima Legal dated
70. Miss Linklater sought to get round this apparent difficulty by reliance on the Particulars of Claim that she had drafted and which correctly identifies Money Mortgages as the lender. It will be recalled that a draft of the Particulars of Claim was sent to Optima Legal on
71. Miss Linklater drew my attention to various passages in the authorities where the courts had relied on the pleadings to justify the substitution of a party. For my part I have some doubt as to whether reliance on the Particulars of Claim adds anything in the circumstances of this case. It is a document which came into existence after the expiry of the Limitation period and after the mistake had come to light and which was served in draft form during the course of the application for substitution. Plainly by the time the application was heard the Defendant was aware of the mistake. However it seems to me that the Court of Appeal in Adelson was contemplating a period before that.
72. In my judgment the Defendant did not know the true identity of the person intending to sue at any relevant time. Equally (to adapt paragraph 57(ii) of the judgment) it is not a case where the Defendant, or his agent, was aware of the proceedings and of the mistake so that no injustice was caused by the amendment.
73. If, however, I am wrong about this it is plain that the Defendant did not know the identity of the correct Claimant until well after the Limitation period had expired. In those circumstances it seems to me that it is covered by Keene LJ’s comment approved by the Court in Adelson that the Court would be likely to exercise its discretion against giving permission to make the amendment. There are no special factors here leading to a different course.
4 Conclusion
74. I have come to the conclusion that DJ Glentworth was wrong to allow the substitution of Money Mortgages and that this appeal should be allowed. In so far as I am differing from DJ Glentworth on matters of discretion I consider that I am entitled to do so firstly because I think she erred in refusing to admit the letter of 19th October with the result that the evidence before me was much fuller than before her and secondly because she did not express her reasons sufficiently fully to enable it to be seen on what basis she actually exercised any discretion she may have had.
75. It has to be remembered that DJ Glentworth dealt with this application in 45 minutes. I had the benefit a hearing lasting for the best part of a day which included a detailed analysis of the relevant documents and the decision in Adelson. I then had further time in which to prepare this judgment. As I stated earlier in this judgment it is very much to DJ Glentworth’s credit that she managed to deal with the application at all in that time.
76. In the result the appeal will be allowed. The application to substitute Money Mortgages as Claimant will be refused and – pursuant to Part 24 – the claim will be struck out.
77. In those circumstances it is not necessary to deal with the application relating to the amendment of the identity of the property as originally set out in the Claim Form.