Godman v Winterton
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 12 March 1940 |
| Date | 12 March 1940 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 111 |
| Court | Court of Appeal |
(Slesser, Luxmoore and Goddard, L.JJ.)
Inter-Governmental Committee for Refugees — Members of — Agents of Sovereign States — Whether Liable to be Sued in Contract.
The Facts.—This was an interlocutory appeal by the plaintiff, Commander Godman, from an order of Mr. Justice Cassels made in chambers dismissing an appeal from an order made by Master Jelf striking out the plaintiff's statement of claim in an action brought by him against Earl Winterton and three American citizens, Mr. Robert T. Pell, Mr. George Rublee, and Mr. Joseph Cotton, claiming payment of expenses and reasonable remuneration for services rendered by the plaintiff.
The claim was against Earl Winterton, as chairman, and against the other defendants as members, of a committee known as the Inter-Governmental Committee, the object of which was to secure the emigration of Jewish and other refugees from Germany, if possible with their capital or part of it. That committee had been set up by a committee of representatives of over thirty States which had met at Evian in July 1938.
The plaintiff's claim arose out of an oral agreement which was made on September 26, 1938, with Mr. Pell, Mr. Rublee, and Mr. Cotton acting as a sub-committee of the committee, when the plaintiff, who had been introduced to the sub-committee by a high Treasury official, agreed to try to establish contact between the committee and the German Government in consideration of the payment of his expenses and a substantial grant if his efforts were successful.
The plaintiff went to Germany and succeeded in establishing contact with the German Government, and as a result Dr. Schacht came to London in December 1938, with the consent of Hitler.
The plaintiff had received £200 on account of his expenses, but, although a further £500 had been promised, he had received nothing more on account of expenses, nor any remuneration for his successful services. He accordingly brought the present action, claiming (1) £500 or a reasonable sum for expenses, and (2) such sum as was just and reasonable for services rendered.
On the statement of claim being filed, Earl Winterton and Mr. Pell made applications to strike it out on the ground that it was frivolous and vexatious and an abuse of the process of the Court and must fail. Master Jelf held, in Mr. Pell's case, that the committee being a committee of governments or...
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