Knowledge acquired by solicitors whilst tendering independent advice to a signatory did not come to them as agents for the lenders because at that time their professional duty was owed to the signatory alone. Simon Brown LJ said: ‘The starting point for consideration of these rival arguments must be the trilogy of recent Court of Appeal decisions which clearly establish a bank’s entitlement to rely upon a solicitor’s certificate that proper advice has been given to the signatory of a relevant instrument even though that solicitor acts principally for the very person against whose undue influence the signatory must be guarded . . Was it reasonable to expect a solicitor, in explaining the nature and effect of the document, to give appropriate advice? In my view it was. It is an ordinary incident of a solicitor’s duty to explain the obvious potential pitfalls of legal transactions to those about to take part in them.’
Judges:
Simon Brown LJ
Citations:
[1996] EWCA Civ 893, [1997] 4 All ER 816
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Governor and Company of Bank of Scotland v Bennett and Another ChD 1997
Mrs Bennett defended the bank’s claim for possession of the matrimonial home charged to the bank to secure her husband’s borrowings. She said that her signature, both to the guarantee and to the legal charge, had been procured by her husband’s undue . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Banking, Undue Influence
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.140760