Hendry v Chartsearch Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Evans,Henry,Millett L JJ |
| Judgment Date | 23 July 1998 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 23 July 1998 |
Before Lord Justice Evans, Lord Justice Henry and Lord Justice Millett
Court of Appeal
Contract - assignment of benefit without required consent - ineffective as regards other party
The assignment to a third party of the benefit of a contract by one party to the contract without the prior consent of the other contracting party, as the contract required, was without legal effect so far as that other party was concerned and could be disregarded by that party with impunity, even though the assignment was effective as between the assignor and the assignee third party.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment dismissing the appeal of the plaintiff, Ross Scott Hendry, although allowing it in part on other grounds, from the judgment of Judge Raymond Jack, QC, sitting as a judge of the Queen's Bench Division in the Bristol Mercantile Court on January 30, 1995, when he granted the application of the defendants, Chartsearch Ltd, to strike out certain parts of the plaintiff's amended statement of claim as disclosing no reasonable cause of action.
The plaintiff alleged, inter alia, as chairman and 50 per cent shareholder of Interface Data Centres Ltd and relying on two written agreements of February 1991 and November 1992 between Interface and the defendants under which Interface undertook in return for payment by the defendants to provide data processing facilities and services on computer hardware and software, that the defendants breached the agreements, and that Interface passed a special resolution in September 1993 under which the company agreed to transfer and assign to him its causes of action against the defendants arising from their failure to pay the sums due. Notice of the assignment was given to the defendants in November 1993.
Mr Declan O'Mahony for the plaintiff; Mr Clive Freedman, QC, for the defendants.
LORD JUSTICE EVANS said that the pleaded facts were straightforward. There was an assignment, it was alleged, in qualified rather than absolute terms.
Mr O'Mahony accepted that if the bar on assignments was absolute, then a purported assignment in breach of the claims would be ineffective as regarded the debtor, the defendants: see Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals LtdELR ((1994) 1 AC 85, 108).
But where the bar was qualified, he submitted, so that consent was required but might not be unreasonably withheld, then the reasonableness or otherwise...
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National Bank of Abu Dhabi Pjsc v BP Oil International Ltd
...regards the debtor and it is irrelevant whether or not the debtor could have reasonably withheld its consent if asked in time (see Hendry v Chartsearch Ltd [1998] C.L.C. 1382 per Henry and Millett LJJ at 1393–4); d) Part of a debt cannot be the subject of a legal assignment but can be the s......
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Maridive & Oil Services (SAE) and another v CNA Insurance Company (Europe) Ltd
...causes of action based on assignments subsequent to the writ, but was also able to distinguish Roban Jig on the facts. Finally, in Hendry v. Chartsearch Ltd. [1998] CLC 1,382, this court was concerned with proceedings begun in April 1994 claiming breach of an agreement for data processing a......
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Asad Ali Meerza and Others v Tareq Al Baho and Others
...causes of action based on assignments subsequent to the writ, but was also able to distinguish Roban Jig on the facts. Finally, in Hendry v Chartsearch Ltd. [1998] CLC 1,382, this court was concerned with proceedings begun in April 1994 claiming breach of an agreement for data processing an......
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Pacrim Investments Pte Ltd v Tan Mui Keow Claire and Another
... ... 23 In Hendry v Chartsearch Ltd (The Times, September 16, 1998, CA), the majority of the Court of Appeal held that, where there was a clause requiring consent ... ...
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TRANSACTIONAL: Corporate/London: U.K. Commercial contracts - withholding your consent by Hywel Jones
...seek your consent before attempting to assign: it is not sufficient to assume consent will not be withheld (Hendry v. Chartsearch Ltd [1998] C.L.C 1382). There is also case law (Don King Productions Inc v. Warren [2000] Ch 291) suggesting that assignments carried out without the required co......