The Court of Appeal today upheld a £2.1m High Court damages award against solicitor Simpson Curtis for professional negligence in a property transaction.
Park J made the award in favour of Twenty Two A Property Investments Ltd after finding that Simpson Curtis negligence led to the property company losing out on an opportunity to sell its option to purchase a bus depot in Hatfield. Twenty Two A had retained Simpson Curtis to handle the transaction.
The opportunity arose when the owners of the depot, Keith Young and Robert Breare, offered to pay £1.65m to Twenty Two A for a surrender of the option so that they could sell the depot free of it.
However, the planned sale fell through after Young and Breares solicitor, Clifford Chance, failed to ensure that the sale agreement was completed by the date specified by the buyer. The sale later went ahead at a much reduced price, and Twenty Two A received a payment that was £982,000 less than originally envisaged.
When Twenty Two A brought a claim against Simpson Curtis, the judge found that they were under a duty to monitor what other solicitors in the transaction were doing, and rejected Simpson Curtis contention that it was entitled to rely upon the reputation of Clifford Chance as a highly-skilled firm of solicitors.
Upholding that decision today, Potter LJ said the court accepted the High Court judges findings that Simpson Curtis was negligent and/or in breach of retainer. He said Simpson Curtis had failed to persuade him that the High Court judge was in error either in the careful examination he had given to the evidence or in the findings he had made.
“I do not consider the conclusion of the judge can be faulted,” he said.
Twenty Two A Property Investments Ltd v Simpson Curtis (a firm) Court of Appeal (Kennedy, Potter and Jonathan Parker LJJ) 25 October 2000
Anthony Temple QC and Francis Tregear (instructed by Browne Jacobson, of Nottingham) appeared for the appellant; Alan Steinfeld QC and Stephen Moverley Smith (instructed by Herbert Smith) appeared for the respondent.
PLS News 21/11/00
