The court considered whether it remained appropriate to enforce a solicitor’s undertaking. The solicitor had undertaken to retain moneys as a potential source of payment of a disputed liability, which had then been breached by the wrongful release of those moneys to a client who was later adjudged bankrupt.
Held: The undertaking was no longer capable of performance, and the only appropriate course was to direct an inquiry as to what loss (if any) had been suffered by the addressee of the undertaking as the result of its breach. The court was required to look at the matter through the spectacles of the time when the undertakings had been given and breached; and to ask itself: what would have happened, at that time, if the undertakings had been performed?
Judges:
Nicholls LJ
Citations:
[1988] QB 925, [1987] 1 All ER 737
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Angel Solicitors v Jenkins O’Dowd and Barth ChD 19-Jan-2009
Actions were brought to enforce undertakings given by solicitors to redeem mortgages on the sale of properties, and as to redemption figures provided by lenders who then refused to release the properties. The solicitors had replied to standard form . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Legal Professions
Updated: 05 May 2022; Ref: scu.280049
