The claimants sought damages from mortgagees who had sold their charged properties as receivers. They said they had failed to sell at a proper value. They asked whether the express appointment in the mortgage of receivers as agents of the mortgagor leads to the assumption by receivers who accept such appointment of responsibilities and duties which differ from those owed by the mortgagees.
Held: By accepting office as receivers of the Claimants’ properties the Receivers assumed a fiduciary duty of care to the Bank, the Claimants and all (if any) others interested in the equity of redemption. The scope or content of the duty depends on the special nature of the relationship between the Bank, the Claimants and the Receivers arising under the terms of the mortgages and the appointments of the Receivers, and in particular the role of the Receivers in securing repayment of the secured debt and the primacy of their obligations in this regard to the Bank. That was inconsistent with a duty to take the pre-marketing steps for which the Claimants contended in this action.
Judges:
Lord Justice Aldous Lord Justice Tuckey Mr Justice Lightman
Citations:
[2003] EWCA Civ 1409, Times 27-Oct-2003, Gazette 20-Nov-2003, [2004] 1 WLR 997, [2004] 4 All ER 484
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Re Charnley Davies Ltd (No 2) ChD 1990
An administrator owed a duty to the company over which he was appointed to take reasonable care to obtain the best price that the circumstances, as he reasonably perceived them to be, permitted, including a duty to take reasonable care in choosing . .
Cited – Downsview Nominees Ltd and Another v First City Corporation Ltd and Another PC 19-Nov-1992
(New Zealand) The holder of a second debenture appointed receivers to the assets. The first debenture holder then also appointed receivers not to obtain repayment of its debt, but to disrupt the work of the first appointed receivers and in order to . .
Cited – Medforth v Blake and others CA 26-May-1999
A receiver appointed to manage a business had duties over and above those of mere good faith. A receiver who failed to obtain discounts normally obtainable for supplies to the business might be liable for that failure. when considering the position . .
Cited – Nash v Eads CA 1880
Sir George Jessel MR: ‘The mortgagee was not a trustee of the power of sale for the mortgagor, and if he was entitled to exercise the power, the Court could not look into his motives for so doing. If he had a right to sell on June 1, and he then . .
Cited – Palk v Mortgage Services Funding Plc CA 1993
The mortgagees had obtained an Order for possession with the intention, not of proceeding to sell the property but of waiting in the hope that the market might improve. The mortgagor was anxious that the property should be sold so that the proceeds . .
Cited – Tse Kwong Lam v Wong Chit Sen PC 1983
For a mortgagee in possession selling a property, it does not matter that the time may be unpropitious and that by waiting a higher price could be obtained: he is not bound to postpone in the hope of obtaining a better price. . .
Cited – China and South Sea Bank Limited v Tan Soon Gin PC 1990
A mortgagee’s decision on sale is not constrained by reason of the fact that the exercise or non-exercise of the power will occasion loss or damage to the mortgagor. He can sit back and do nothing. He is not obliged to take steps to realise his . .
Cited – McHugh v Union Bank of Canada PC 1913
There was a mortgage of horses, which the mortgagee needed to drive to market if he was to sell them.
Held: If a mortgagee goes on with a sale of property which is unsaleable as it stands, a duty of care may be imposed on him, when taking the . .
Cited – Standard Chartered Bank Ltd v Walker CA 1982
The mortgagee having obtained insufficient on the sale at auction of the property charged to recover the sum secured, applied for summary judgment against the mortgagor for that sum. The mortgagor resisted the application alleging that the mortgagee . .
Cited – Knight v Lawrence 1991
If a mortgaged property is let, the receiver is duty bound to inspect the lease and, if the lease contains an upwards only rent review, to trigger that rent review in due time. . .
Cited – Kelly v Cooper and Another PC 25-Nov-1992
There was a dispute between a client and an estate agent in Bermuda. The client sued the estate agent for damages for breach of duty in failing to disclose material information to him and for putting himself in a position where his duty and his . .
Cited – Knight v Lawrence 1993
As part of his duty of care, a receiver may be required to take positive steps to maintain the value of the property. . .
Cited – Routestone Ltd v Minories Finance ChD 1996
A receiver’s management duties will ordinarily impose on him no general duty to exercise the power of sale, or to ‘work’ an estate by refurbishing it before sale. Speaking of the role of an expert witness ‘What really matters in most cases are the . .
Cited – Yorkshire Bank Plc v Hall and Others CA 18-Dec-1998
The Court of Appeal is not strictly bound by the terms of leave to appeal given, but where the points had been specifically considered a point could only be heard with the leave of the Court of Appeal which had full power to regulate its own . .
Cited – Ratford v Northavon District Council CA 1986
The reality of the agency of a receiver is reflected in the continuity, after the appointment of receivers, of the rateable occupation of the mortgagor through the agency of the receivers. The possession of an agent is to be attributed to that of . .
Cited – Re Offshore Ventilation 1989
The position of agency of receivers is a real one, even though it has some peculiar incidents. . .
Cited – Piacentini v Dayman QBD 5-Feb-2003
The reality of the agency of a receiver for a mortgagor is shown in the absence of personal liability of the receivers for tax in respect of receipts which come to the hands of the receivers as agents. . .
Cited – Gaskell v Gosling CA 28-Apr-1896
The agency of a receiver for the mortgagor is one where the principal, the mortgagor, has no say in the appointment or identity of the receiver and is not entitled to give any instructions to the receiver or to dismiss the receiver. ‘For valuable . .
Cited – Gaskell v Gosling CA 28-Apr-1896
The agency of a receiver for the mortgagor is one where the principal, the mortgagor, has no say in the appointment or identity of the receiver and is not entitled to give any instructions to the receiver or to dismiss the receiver. ‘For valuable . .
Cited – Gomba Holdings v Homan 1986
A receiver’s powers of management are really ancillary to the duty to manage the security, the property of the mortgagee, for the benefit of the mortgagee. In the context of the agency of a receiver which is no ordinary agency but primarily a device . .
Cited – Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd HL 25-Jul-1994
Lloyds Agents Owe Care Duty to Member; no Contract
Managing agents conducted the financial affairs of the Lloyds Names belonging to the syndicates under their charge. It was alleged that they managed these affairs with a lack of due careleading to enormous losses.
Held: The assumption of . .
Cited by:
Cited – Den Norske Bank Asa v Acemex Management Company Ltd CA 7-Nov-2003
Money had been loaned for the purchase of three ships,and mortgages over the ships had been given given. The borrowers were in default, and the lender sought to arrest the vessels. The defendant argued that the way the arrest had been undertaken . .
Cited – MacDonald and Another v Carnbroe Estates Ltd SC 4-Dec-2019
‘This appeal concerns the Scots law of gratuitous alienations on insolvency. It raises three principal questions. First, there is a question as to the interpretation of the term ‘adequate consideration’ in section 242(4)(b) of the Insolvency Act . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Negligence, Agency, Insolvency
Leading Case
Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.187019
