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Undue Influence - From: 1996 To: 1996
This page lists 9 cases, and was prepared on 21 May 2019.
Scotlife Home Loans v Hedworth (1996) 28 HLR 771
1996
CA
Neill LJ
Housing, Undue Influence
The lender claimed possession as chargee under a legal charge granted by the respondents who filed Defences contending that the claimant had agreed to replace the secured loan and to waive its remedies for default under the charge. The claimant said the defence was misconceived. The District Judge declined to make a possession order, and gave directions. The claimant appealed to the circuit judge. By the time the appeal was heard Mrs Hedworth had amended her Defence to plead that the claimant's charge was unenforceable against her since it had been procured by Mr Hedworth's undue influence, of which the claimant had constructive notice. The judge allowed the claimant's appeal and made a possession order. On appeal Mrs Hedworth sought to adduce additional affidavit evidence to the effect that if the appeal were allowed she would re-amend her Defence to allege that the claimant's advance was applied in discharging existing charges which had themselves been procured by the undue influence of Mr Hedworth, of which the claimant had constructive notice. The claimant conceded that if Mrs Hedworth's Defence were amended to include such allegations it would no longer be appropriate to strike it out. Held: Dismissing her appeal: "I appreciate that counsel for Mrs Hedworth would argue that the fact that a loan by way of mortgage is to be applied for the redemption of prior mortgages does not necessarily establish that the remortgage is to the wife's advantage because .... the mortgages redeemed may themselves have been procured by undue influence. I am not persuaded, however, by this argument. Indeed, it seems to me that it is contrary to the reasoning in Pitt. The court has to find an equilibrium between the proper protection of the rights of a wife who may be the victim of actual or presumed undue influence on the one hand and on the other hand the furtherance of ordinary business transactions involving mortgages of a matrimonial home in the joint ownership of a husband and wife. The decision in Pitt .... demonstrates that a transaction which involves a remortgage with the application of any surplus funds to a purpose which is to the apparent benefit of the husband and wife would not normally arouse suspicion. In the present case I think the correct approach is to consider what would have been the position had Scotlife been alerted to the fact that these monies were to be applied (save for a very small fraction) to the redemption of earlier mortgages. On this basis, I consider that Scotlife would have been entitled to treat the transaction as an ordinary business transaction. .... As I see it, Scotlife had no reason to question the validity of these earlier mortgages."
1 Citers
Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland Nv v Burch [1996] EWCA Civ 1292; [1997] 1 All ER 144; [1997] 2 FCR 1; [1997] 74 P and CR 384; [1997] 29 HLR 513; [1997] Fam Law 168; [1997] 1 FLR 11
20 Jun 1996
CA
Nousre, Millett, Swinton Thomas LJJ
Undue Influence
The defendant had charged her property to secure her employer's debt. When the bank sought repossession, she said that the charge had been affected by the undue influence and that the terms of the charge were so harsh and inconscionable that a court should not enforce it.
1 Cites
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland NV v Burch Gazette, 04 September 1996; Times, 01 July 1996; [1997] 1 All ER 144
1 Jul 1996
CA
Nourse LJ
Banking, Undue Influence
A Bank was to assume that undue influence existed where they knew that an employee was giving security for his employer's debt to the bank. An unlimited guarantee given by an employee to his employer's bank was set aside as unconscionable. The circumstances in which the doctrine of unconscionable bargains would apply were similar to those of undue influence. "Equity's jurisdiction to relieve against (unconscionable bargains), although more rarely exercised in modern times is at least as venerable as its jurisdiction to relieve against those procured by undue influence." When attending his client to witness such a document, the solicitor must in any event advise her that she is under no obligation to enter into the transaction at all and, if she still wishes to do so, that she is not bound to accept the terms of any document which has been put before her.
1 Citers
Banco Exterior Internacional SA (Formerly Banco Exterior - UK a Limited Liability Company Incorporated Under the Laws of Spain) v Thomas and Barry the Executors of Patricia Dempsey; CA 31-Jul-1996 - [1996] EWCA Civ 558; [1997] 1 WLR 221
Banco Exterior Internacional SA (Formerly Banco Exterior - UK A Limited Liability Company Incorporated Under the Laws of Spain) v Thomas and Barry the Executors of Patricia Dempsey) [1996] EWCA Civ 676
8 Oct 1996
CA
Undue Influence
[ Bailii ]
Bank of Baroda v Syed Talha Hamad Rafique Syeda Akthar Rafique [1996] EWCA Civ 722
15 Oct 1996
CA
Undue Influence, Litigation Practice
The defendant sought as an alternative to an order for possession, an order for the sale of the property pending resolution of the issue of her claim of undue influence. Held: The case was remitted to the county court to reconsider an order for sale, and with a request that the balance of isues be determined quickly.
[ Bailii ]
Barclays Bank Plc v Thompson [1996] EWCA Civ 893; [1997] 4 All ER 816
7 Nov 1996
CA
Simon Brown LJ
Banking, Undue Influence
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."
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Dunbar Bank Plc v Nadeem and Another Times, 13 November 1996
13 Nov 1996
ChD
Undue Influence
The merger of a debt in one name with a joint debt put the bank on notice of undue influence.
Conoco Limited v Khan and Khan [1996] EWCA Civ 968
15 Nov 1996
CA
Undue Influence
The second defendant denied liability under loan agreements pleading non est factum, and saying that they had been been obtained by undue influence.
1 Cites
[ Bailii ]
