An Oxford professor has won £1m after a now-defunct law firm bodged his inheritance.
Christopher Gosden believed that a trust scheme set up in 2003 by Halliwell Landau meant that he would be informed if his mother’s home in Kennington was ever put on the market and allow them the right to veto the sale. It was only after she died in 2013 that he realised the home had been sold without his knowledge in 2010 by his mother’s partner.
Gosden claimed that Halliwell Landau was negligent in leaving a loophole that allowed the house to be sold without his knowledge. He added that it was also negligent in failing to register a restriction on the house with the Land Registry, which would have kept Gosden and his wife in control of whether or not it was sold.
Yesterday, at the High Court, Judge Mark Pelling, QC, ruled that Halliwell Landau must pay more than £985,000 for the mistake. As the firm, which became Halliwells, went bust in 2010, Gateley, the firm joined by the partner responsible for the trust, will be liable for the payment.
