James Lonsdale & Ors v Wedlake Bell LLP & Ors
| Judge | Mr Justice Martin |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 712 (KB) |
| Date | 27 March 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Court | King's Bench Division |
| Counsel | Ms Sarah Haren Kc,Mr David Halpern Kc |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 712 (KB)
Case No: QB-2021-004592
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING'S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 27/03/2024
Before:
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE MARTIN SPENCER
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Between :
(1) JAMES LONSDALE
(2) LAURA LONSDALE
(3) JONATHAN GREIG
(4) DANE HALLING
(5) LEONORA LONSDALE
(6) ROSANNA LONSDALE
(7) ARTHUR LONSDALE
(8) ESME LONSDALE
Claimants
- and –
(1) WEDLAKE BELL LLP
(2) CUMBERLAND ELLIS LLP
(3) QBE UK LIMITED
Defendants
Ms Sarah Haren KC (instructed by Payne Hicks Beach, Solicitors) for the
Claimants/Respondents
Mr David Halpern KC (instructed by RPC, Solicitors) for the Defendants/Applicants
Hearing dates: 29th-31st January 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.30am on 27 March 2024 by circulation to the
parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE MARTIN SPENCER
Judgment Approved by the court for handing down. Lonsdale & Others -v- Wedlake Bell LLP & Others
Mr Justice Martin Spencer:
Introduction
1. By their application dated 12th May 2023, the First and Third Defendants seek to
strike out the claim, alternatively they apply for summary judgment.
2. The claim arises out of admitted negligence on the part of solicitors instructed
principally by the First Claimant, Mr James Lonsdale, in relation to a settlement
which had been made in 1987 creating a Discretionary Trust in favour of a number of
beneficiaries including James Lonsdale’s children. Mr Lonsdale’s purpose was to
benefit his own children, but with his nieces/nephews as backstop beneficiaries should
the Trust in favour of his own children fail. However, the terms of the Trust, which
gave the beneficiaries the right to income when they attained the age of 25, gave all
the beneficiaries equal rights, whether his children or his nieces/nephews. The
Trustees had the power to vary the Trust before the right of any beneficiary
crystallised at age 25. However, shortly before the eldest beneficiary, Leonora,
attained the age of twenty-five, in 2011, negligent advice was given whereby the
Trustees lost the opportunity to vary the Trust so as to comply with the Settlor’s
wishes. That advice was not corrected until 2018, and in the interim, the rights of
more beneficiaries crystallised by their attaining the age of 25.
3. The claim is brought by James Lonsdale, both in his individual capacity as Settlor and
as a Trustee, the Trustees and James Lonsdale’s four children (hereafter also referred
to as “the Children”) against the solicitors for professional negligence. Damages are
sought based upon the loss and damage alleged to have been suffered by the
Claimants, whether individually, in the case of Mr Lonsdale, or as Trustees in the case
of all the first four Claimants, or as the intended beneficiaries in the case of the
remaining Claimants, the Children. In the case of the Trustees, their loss and damage
is claimed to be represented by their liability to account to some of the
nieces/nephews for income to which they were entitled from age 25 but which has not
been paid, together with interest thereon, sums paid by way of compensation to other
nieces/nephews when the Trust was varied to their disadvantage, and the reduction in
the value of the trust fund insofar as the trust fund represents the interests of Mr
Lonsdale’s children. There is also a claim in respect of loans made in reliance on the
negligent advice. In the case of the Children, they claim their reduced entitlement to
income and/or the reduction in the value of the trust fund which would, but for the
negligence, have been held in trust for their benefit.
4. For the Defendants, this application is made on four grounds:
(i) No loss was suffered by the Trustees;
(ii) No duty of care was owed to the Children and they do not fall within the “White v
Jones” exception;
(iii) Although James Lonsdale, the Settlor, had an arguable claim, this became statute-
barred; and
(iv) The claim by the Trustees is also statute-barred.
Judgment Approved by the court for handing down. Lonsdale & Others -v- Wedlake Bell LLP & Others
The Parties
5. The first four Claimants are the Trustees of the Settlement Trust. The first claimant,
James Lonsdale, is also the Settlor.
6. Claimants 5-8 are James Lonsdale’s children:
Leonora, born on 14 June 1986 who attained 25 on 14 June 2011;
Rosanna, born on 14 January 1988, who attained 25 on 14 January 2013;
Arthur, born on 29 April 1995, who attained 25 on 29 April 2020;
Esme (Arthur’s twin) also born on 29 April 1995 and who also attained 25
on 29 April 2020.
7. It is relevant to note that there are 5 nieces/nephews who are the children of James
Lonsdale’s sisters, Joanna and Emma. Their details are as follows:
Suzannah Shipp who was born on 14 April 1988 and attained 25 on 14
April 2013;
Alexander Shipp who was born on 11 February 1989 and attained 25 on 11
February 2014;
Patrick Shipp who was born on 14 February 1993 and attained 25 on 14
February 2018;
Karl-Alfred Primus who was born on 12 September 1995 and attained 25
on 12 September 2020; and
Gulliver Sebag-Montefiore who was born on 31 August 2000 and will
attain 25 on 31 August 2025.
8. Ms Ann Stanyer was the solicitor who was retained by James Lonsdale and the
Trustees at all material times. In 2011, she was a partner in the firm of Cumberland
Ellis, the Second Defendant, which was dissolved on 19 August 2020. Their business
was taken over by Wedlake Bell, the First Defendant, where Ms Stanyer also became
a partner. The Third Defendant is the professional liability insurer of the Second
Defendant. The First Claimant issued proceedings on 24 June 2021 to reinstate the
Second Defendant for the purposes of bringing this claim.
The Assumed Facts
9. At this stage, for the purposes of these applications, I assume the facts as the
Claimants assert them to be but make no findings. The facts are generally in any
event uncontroversial.
10. On 9 June 1987, the First Claimant, James Lonsdale, created a trust, known as “the
Sparsholt Settlement” for the primary benefit of his children. A firm known as
Cumberland Ellis Peirs, which was a predecessor of the First and Second Defendants,
acted for Mr Lonsdale in relation to the creation of the Sparsholt Settlement. At that
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