Trimble v Goldberg: PC 1906

The parties entered into a partnership to acquire ‘stands of land’ for conversion into a township and subsequent re-sale. The land was acquired, along with shares in a company owning other stands in the same locality. One of the partners then bought that company’s other stands himself, having been shown them while in Johannesburg for the purpose of finalising the terms of the partnership’s acquisition.
Held: The partner was not liable to account because ‘the purchase was not within the scope of the partnership’, even though he found out about the land while on partnership business and his personal purchase was an identical type of investment to that of the partnership. A breach of contract arising as a result of breach of a term of good faith not to purchase property for a partner’s own purposes sounds in damages.
The parties entered into partnership to acquire ‘stands of land’ for conversion into a township and subsequent re-sale. The land was acquired, along with shares in a company owning other stands in the same locality. One of the partners then bought that company’s other stands himself, having been shown them while in Johannesburg for the purpose of finalising the terms of the partnership’s acquisition.
Held: The partner was not liable to account because ‘the purchase was not within the scope of the partnership’, even though he found out about the land while on partnership business and his personal purchase was an identical type of investment to that of the partnership.

Judges:

Lord Macnaghten

Citations:

[1906] AC 494

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedSimms v Conlon and Another CA 20-Dec-2006
Solicitors within a practice sued each other, and one wished to plead the fact of a finding of professional misconduct.
Held: The defendant’s appeal succeeded. It was not an abuse for the appellant to continue to assert his innocence, and the . .
CitedO’Donnell v Shanahan and Another CA 22-Jul-2009
The claimant appealed against dismissal of her petition for an order for the defendants to purchase her shares at a fair value, saying that they had acted unfairly toward her. Her co-directors had acquired, for another company of which they were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.248044