Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2021 #182The claimants brought a claim against the first defendant, a firm of solicitors, and against the second defendant, who was a partner in the first defendant firm, for damages for professional negligence in respect of a tax mitigation scheme known as an Estate Protection Scheme (EPS), by which it was intended that a property (the property) owned by the first claimant’s mother (the deceased) would pass on her death to the first claimant, with substantially less Inheritance Tax (IHT) being payable than if the property had been disposed of by will. The property remained registered in the sole...
Christopher Kennedy QC considers the principles behind the notion of ‘full compensation’ in cases involving serious personal injury and how they have been applied ‘What sounds perfectly straightforward in the judgment of an eminent jurist can appear more challenging when considering the messy facts of an individual case.’The phrase ‘restitutio in integrum’ means restoration to …
Continue reading "Restitutio In Integrum: ‘What’s done cannot be undone’"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2015 #147The appellant bank instructed the respondent solicitors to act in relation to a £3.3m re-mortgage on behalf of themselves and the borrowers. The borrowers’ property (the property) was already subject to a first charge in favour of Barclays. A part of the respondent’s instructions was to redeem the outstanding Barclays mortgage and to secure a first charge against the property in the appellant’s favour.
Due to an oversight, the respondents paid only £1,23m of the outstanding £1.5m Barclays loan and then transferred the balance to the borrowers. Having realised their error, the resp...
One of the more intellectually challenging concepts in the field of clinical negligence is that of material contribution. Julian Matthews highlights two recent cases which illustrate some of the issues which arise ‘A defendant cannot be held to be liable for loss or damage that it did not cause or to which it made no …
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Negligent treatment of pre-existing paraplegia; establishing the appropriate counterfactual; whether credit should be given for care required in any event ‘One might say that the paradigmatic negligent act is to make that person worse. A court may well have sympathy with a vulnerable individual whose quality of life is reduced even further by those in …
Continue reading "Case Report: Christine Reaney v University of North Staffordshire NHS Trust (1) and Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (2) [2014] EWHC 3016 (QB)"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2013 #133In 2006, Drs Ravindra and Salma Sondhi applied to the claimant (AIB) for a loan of £3.3m, to be secured against their private home, in order to provide finance for their business. The application stated that the Sondhis’ home was worth £4.5m but was subject to an existing mortgage in favour of Barclays Bank to secure an outstanding loan of £1.5m. AIB agreed to the loan but required security over the Sondhis’ home in the form of first legal charge. AIB instructed the defendant (MRC) to act for it in connection with the remortgage and provided MRC with a facility letter which s...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2012 #118In 2001 the patient, J, received a settlement of £2,090,000 damages in respect of cerebral palsy suffered as a result of complications at the time of his birth in 1991. Of this, £1,611,222 was attributable to his future care needs. J is an only child. His father was born in 1959 and his mother in 1962. He lives with them in a house bought in October 2000 for £349,950 from an interim payment that is held by his parents and Mr Smyth (S), his receiver (now the deputy) as his trustees. Its current value is estimated at £675,000. J’s life expectancy was originally assessed in 1998 as la...
