A Cambridgeshire couple who sought £1m damages in negligence from their former solicitor, Taylor Vinters, have been awarded a nominal sum of £2 by the High Court.
In 1993, Barry and Patricia Harwood entered into an agreement to acquire the freehold interest in Weald House Nursing Home in Croxton, St Neots, Cambridgeshire, from the then owners, David Issitt and his wife.
Following extensive and costly litigation with the Issitts, the Harwoods brought an action against Taylor Vinters, claiming that it had failed adequately to advise them as to the risks of entering into a transaction in the terms of the agreement.
They also alleged that Taylor Vinters had failed to address the issue of the non-existence of any formal grant of rights to the freehold owners of the property to use or maintain a drain, owned by a third party, that carried drainage from the premises to a public sewer.
Judge Richard Seymour QC held: “I find that Mr and Mrs Harwood had made up their own minds to proceed with the transaction concerning the property, and would not have been deterred had they been given any of the advice that it is alleged they should have been given.
“In the result, in respect of the single instance of negligence that I have found proved, in respect of failing to discover and to report, in 1993, that there were no formal rights to use or to maintain the drain, I award nominal damages.”
Harwood and another vTaylor Vinters (a firm) Chancery Division (Judge Richard Seymour QC) 18 March 2003.
David Berry, solicitor advocate, of Berry & Walton, King’s Lynn, appeared for the claimants; Thomas Dumont (instructed by Browne Jacobson, of Nottingham) appeared for the defendant.
References: PLS News 20/03/03
