Dean v Prince: CA 1954

The court had criticised an auditors’ valuation of a company’s shares.
Held: The criticism was not correct. However. if the court was satisfied that the valuation was made under a mistake, it would not be binding on the parties.
Denning LJ said: ‘Even if the court cannot point to the actual alleged error, nevertheless, if the figure itself is so extravagantly large or so inadequately small that the only conclusion is that he must have gone wrong somewhere, then the court will interfere much in the same way as the Court of Appeal will interfere with an award of damages if it is a wholly erroneous estimate.’

Judges:

Denning LJ

Citations:

[1954] 1 All ER 749, [1954] Ch 409

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal fromDean v Prince 1953
An auditor had valued the shares in a private company under its articles. The court was asked to look behind the valuation: ‘In my judgment the valuation cannot stand. I propose, therefore, to declare that the valuation is not binding upon the . .

Cited by:

AppliedIn re Bird Precision Bellows Ltd CA 1986
The company which was formed to combine one party’s expertise in the manufacturing of precision bellows with the general experience of two others in financial, commercial and industrial matters. For several years the company’s affairs had worked . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company, Damages

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.192600