The Court of Appeal has granted Standard Life leave to challenge a High Court order that it should pay chartered surveyor Egan Lawson £147,445 in commission.
In May Standard Life was ordered to pay Egan Lawson 1% commission on the £11.5m purchase of the Meadows Phase II retail park in Chelmsford.
The court found that Egan Lawson had introduced the property to Standard Life four months prior to an introduction by Richard Ellis (RE).
Justice Hallett QC said that the second introduction by RE was neither a separate transaction nor sufficiently distinct in price terms to break the connection with Egan Lawson’s initial introduction. As a result, the commission was due to Egan Lawson.
However, a Court of Appeal judge, in allowing the appeal, said that there were several matters of fact that had not been properly considered in the High Court.
Controversy surrounded the case after it was discovered that a personal connection existed between two important players in the deal – Standard Life’s Neil Lindsay and his ex-wife Karen Queen, a Richard Ellis agent.
EGi News 10/8/99
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