Harmer v Armstrong: CA 1934

The court considered the position where the assignor of a contract was required to attend court as a party when the assignee sought to enforce the debt.
Held: A beneficiary under a bare trust could bring proceedings in his own name and, where the trustees refused to sue, joining the other beneficiaries and the trustees as defendants. Lawrence LJ said: ‘The right of a beneficiary in such a case as the present, however, is to enforce the agreement according to its tenor, that is to say in favour of the defendant Armstrong, and not in favour of the plaintiff beneficiaries.’

Judges:

Lawrence LJ

Citations:

[1934] Ch 65

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedBarbados Trust Company Ltd v Bank of Zambia and Another CA 27-Feb-2007
The creditor had assigned the debt, but without first giving the debtor defendant the necessary notice. A challenge was made to the ability of the assignee to bring the action, saying that the deed of trust appointed to circumvent the reluctance of . .
CitedIn re Field 1971
The plaintiff had an order for maintenance against the deceased’s estate. She brought proceedings in her own name against an insurance company which had wrongly paid a claim to the widow and not to the estate. The insurer sought a strike out. The . .
CitedRoberts v Gill and Co and Another CA 15-Jul-2008
The claimant sought damages in negligence against solicitors who had advised the executors in an estate of which he was a beneficiary. He now sought to amend his claim to make a claim in his personal and in derivative capacities. Sums had been paid . .
CitedRoberts v Gill and Co Solicitors and Others SC 19-May-2010
The claimant beneficiary in the estate sought damages against solicitors who had acted for the claimant’s brother, the administrator, saying they had allowed him to take control of the assets in the estate. The will provided that property was to be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Litigation Practice

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.249319