Writ claims regulatory body acted “maliciously”
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is being sued for £4.4m by a former member who claims his business was destroyed by an unfair tribunal.
William Colley is claiming the £4.4m as damages after the CLC suspended his licence in August 2000, following a complaint from a client over a £500 bill.
The CLCis the regulatory body for licensed conveyancers. It was set up when the business was liberalised in 1987 to allow people who are not solicitors to conveyance property transactions. It has 805 licence holders.
Colley is claiming against a court ruling last year that stated he could not claim for damages, even though the CLC’s decision had been quashed by the High Court.
The claim states that the suspension of the licence required Colley to liquidate Colley Conveyancing Services, which had been “successful for over 16 years”.
In 2002, CLC successfully blocked Colley’s claim for damages on the grounds that a private claim for damages cannot be brought against a regulatory body carrying out its statutory functions.
But Colley launched a new claim after Mr Justice Gray concluded that a claim could be made if the CLC could be shown to have acted in bad faith. Colley also claims the attempt to deny him a hearing contravened his human rights.
He is claiming £2.6m damages to compensate him for “loss of existing and future business”, £750,000 for slander and libel, and also legal costs and interest.
The writ states that CLC acted “deliberately and knowingly and maliciously” and that Colley was “greatly humiliated”.
CLC said it was hoping to reach an “amicable settlement”.
