Solicitors appealed against an order for payment of damages for professional negligence. The solicitors said that the plaintiff should have mitigated her damages.
Held: The plaintiffs had not failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate their loss. A disappointed beneficiary, claiming for professional negligence against solicitors, did not first have to seek to minimize his loss by seeking rectification of the will, where this would be unlikely to produce a practical improvement in his position.
Judges:
Hirst LJ, Mummery LJ, Buxton LJ
Citations:
Gazette 31-Mar-1999, Gazette 10-Mar-1999, [1999] EWCA Civ 816, Times 11-Mar-1999, [1999] 1 FLR 1182
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Pilkington v Wood 1953
The plaintiff bought freehold land from a seller conveying as beneficial owner, the defendant acting as the plaintiff’s solicitor in the transaction. When the plaintiff later tried to sell the property he found the title was defective, the seller . .
Cited – Walker v Geo H Medlicott and Son (a Firm) CA 19-Nov-1998
The claimant said that the defendant solicitor had negligently failed to include in the will a specific devise of property in his favour.
Held: A beneficiary who alleged negligent failure of a will draftsman to include a gift to him in a will . .
Cited – In re Segelman (dec’d) ChD 1996
The burden of proof which falls on a disappointed beneficiary who seeks rectification of the will, saying that the will did not give effect to a testator’s intentions, is an exacting one.
Chadwick J said: ‘Although the standard of proof . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Wills and Probate, Professional Negligence, Legal Professions
Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.145731