The claimant sought damages for defamation. The defendant through their company had accused him acting in such a way as to allow a conflict of interest to arise. They said that he had been invited to act on a proposed purchase but had used the information to put in a higher offer himself. The claimant had dsitinguished between the appellants and their company. The judge judge had allowed a defence of qualified privilege, but the jury had found malice, after the judge directed that the defendants were not thenmselves the clients but their company was. The defendants appealed.
Held: The appeal succeeded. Where there were issues of trust and confidence between a solicitor, his client company and officers of that company, there was good reason to lift the corporate veil. That applied here, and allowed any defence of qualified privilege to attch to the appellants. ‘ a solicitor’s duty of confidentiality, it can come into its own as a separate obligation from that of a fiduciary when the fiduciary relationship has come to an end with the end of the solicitor/client relationship. ‘
Citations:
[2005] EWCA Civ 1302, Times 29-Nov-2005, [2006] 1 All ER 571
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Mentioned – Underwood, Son and Piper v Lewis CA 11-May-1894
Solicitors had declined to continue to act for their client before the litigation in which they were acting had been completed. They brought an action for the amount of their bill of costs for work done to date. The trial judge held that a solicitor . .
Cited – Bray v Ford HL 1896
An appellate court’s power to order a new trial is conditional on ‘some substantial wrong or miscarriage’ being established.
Lord Hershell said: ‘It is an inflexible rule of the court of equity that a person in a fiduciary position, such as . .
Mentioned – Marks and Spencer Group Plc and Another v Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer CA 3-Jun-2004
The defendant firm of solicitors sought leave to appeal against an injunction requiring them not to act for a client in making a bid to take over the business of the claimant, a former client of the firm.
Held: Leave was refused. The appeal . .
Cited – Marks and Spencer plc v Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (A Firm) ChD 2-Jun-2004
The claimant sought an injunction preventing the respondent form of solicitors acting for a client in a bid for the claimant, saying that the firm was continuing to act for it, and that a conflict of interest arose.
Held: Though the . .
Cited – Donsland Limited v Nicholas Van Hoogstraton CA 2002
Once a transaction in respect of which the solicitor was retained is completed, the retainer comes to an end, and with it the fiduciary relationship between client and solicitor. . .
Cited – Prince Jefri Bolkiah v KPMG (A Firm) HL 16-Dec-1998
Conflicts of Duty with former Client
The House was asked as to the duties of the respondent accountants (KPMG). KPMG had information confidential to a former client, the appellant, which might be relevant to instructions which they then accepted from the Brunei Investment Agency, of . .
Cited – Phipps v Boardman HL 3-Nov-1966
A trustee has a duty to exploit any available opportunity for the trust. ‘Rules of equity have to be applied to such a great diversity of circumstances that they can be stated only in the most general terms and applied with particular attention to . .
Cited – Mothew (T/a Stapley and Co) v Bristol and West Building Society CA 24-Jul-1996
The solicitor, acting in a land purchase transaction for his lay client and the plaintiff, had unwittingly misled the claimant by telling the claimant that the purchasers were providing the balance of the purchase price themselves without recourse . .
Cited – Hospital Products Ltd v United States Surgical Corporation 25-Oct-1984
High Court of Australia – A solicitor’s duty of loyalty to his client’s interest, and his duty to respect his client’s confidences, have their roots in the fiduciary nature of the solicitor-client relationship, but may have to be moulded and . .
Cited – Kelly v Cooper and Another PC 25-Nov-1992
There was a dispute between a client and an estate agent in Bermuda. The client sued the estate agent for damages for breach of duty in failing to disclose material information to him and for putting himself in a position where his duty and his . .
Cited – Longstaff and Another v Birtles and Others CA 26-Jul-2001
The claimants were clients of a firm of solicitors. At the suggestion of the solicitors, they entered into a partnership with the solicitors to run a hotel. No suggestion was made that they should seek independent advice. The business failed, and . .
Cited – R P Howard Ltd and Witchell v Woodman Matthews and Co (a firm) 1983
The solicitor defendant knew that the company was a family company effectively run by Mr Witchell from whom they received their instructions. The question raised was as to the duty of the solicitor to company and director.
Held: There is no . .
Cited – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co (a Firm) CA 12-Nov-1998
The claimant had previously issued a claim against the defendant solicitors through his company. He now sought to pursue a claim in his own name. It was resisted as an abuse of process, and on the basis that no personal duty of care was owed to the . .
Cited – Minter v Priest CA 1929
An issue was whether conversations between a solicitor and his client relating to the business of obtaining a loan for the deposit on the purchase of real estate were privileged from disclosure.
Held: They were privileged. The were within to . .
Cited – Minter v Priest HL 1930
The House was asked whether a conversation between a person seeking the services of a solicitor in relation to the purchase of real property and the solicitor was privileged in circumstances where the solicitor was being requested to lend the . .
Cited – Schering Chemicals Ltd v Falkman Ltd CA 1982
The Defendants’ professional skills were engaged to present the plaintiff company in a good light, and an injunction was granted to restrain them from doing the opposite. Sach LJ said: ‘even in the commercial field, ethics and good faith are not to . .
Cited – Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Hett Stubbs and Kemp (a firm) ChD 1978
A solicitor had failed to register an option as a land charge over property. The court was asked what steps should have been taken by a solicitor in the conduct of a claim: ‘Mr Harman [leading counsel for the plaintiff] sought to rely upon the fact . .
Cited – Boulting v Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians CA 1963
There must be a real conflict and not a theoretical conflict, before a solicitor can be restrained from acting in a matter against a former client. In order to give fully informed consent, the person entitled to the benefit of the rule must: ‘fully . .
Cited – Seager v Copydex Ltd CA 1967
Mr Seager had invented a patented carpet grip which he manufactured and marketed under the trade mark Klent. There were protracted negotiations between Mr Seager and Copydex over a proposal for Copydex to market the Klent. One of the issues in the . .
Cited – Erlanger v New Sombrero Phosphate Company HL 31-Jul-1878
Rescission needs Restitutio in Integrum
A syndicate, of which Erlanger (Orse Erlinger) was the head, purchased from an insolvent company an island, said to contain valuable mines of phosphates. Erlanger, who managed the purchase, prepared to get up a company to take over the island and . .
Cited – Specot v Ageda 1973
In matters relating to a breach of fiduciary duty, the matter is one of perception as well as substance. . .
Cited – United Pan-Europe Communications N V v Deutsche Bank Ag CA 19-May-2000
The claimant sought to prevent the misuse of what it said was its confidential information, identifying it by reference to specific documents in which it was said to be recorded.
Held: That was a sufficient description because the defendant . .
Cited – Gillick v Brook Advisory Centres and Another CA 23-Jul-2001
The claimant appealed after closing her action for an alleged defamation by the respondents in a leaflet published by them. She challenged an interim decision by the judge as to the meaning of the words complained of.
Held: The leaflet made . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Defamation, Company, Legal Professions
Updated: 07 September 2022; Ref: scu.235981