Orientfield Holdings Ltd v Bird and Bird Llp: ChD 26 Jun 2015

The c;aimant alleged breach of contract and or professional negligence by the defendant solicitors when acting for it in the purchase of land. Contracts had been exchnged but on the discovery of proposed development nearby, they had failed to complete, forfeiting the deposit. The claimant said that the solicitors had failed to reveal the planning proposals.
Held: The defendant had failed in its duties. ‘ the defendants could not be criticised if in fact they had not carried out a Plansearch. This follows from the first of the general propositions set out above. However, having carried out such a search, then in my judgment Mr Baker came under a duty to explain the results of that search to his client. ‘ and ‘The duty to communicate matters actually known to a solicitor is to communicate information that may be material, thereby setting the threshold for information to be communicated at an intentionally low level. Solicitors do not generally advise on the business merits of transactions they are instructed to facilitate. The business judgments involved are those of the client, not the solicitor, and it is for the client to judge the impact of the material that may be relevant, not the solicitor.’

Pelling QC HHJ
[2015] EWHC 1963 (Ch), [2015] PNLR 33, [2015] 6 Costs LO 667
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
CitedBoateng v Hughmans (A Firm) CA 10-May-2002
The court was asked: ‘What has to be proved by the claimant in a case where the negligence of his solicitor has consisted of the failure to give him proper advice, in order to establish a sufficient causal link between the solicitor’s negligence and . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Costs, Contract, Legal Professions

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.550034