Sandra Anna Amos v Beverly Mancini
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Jarman |
| Judgment Date | 30 April 2020 |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] EWHC 1063 (Ch) |
| Docket Number | Case No: PT-2019-CDF-000030 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
| Date | 30 April 2020 |
[2020] EWHC 1063 (Ch)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BUSINEE AND PROPERTY COURTS IN WALES
PROPERTY TRUSTS AND PROBABTE LIST (ChD)
IN THE ESTATE OF ROYSTON LEONARD AMOS DECEASED
Cardiff Civil Justice Centre
2 Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1ET
HIS HONOUR JUDGE Jarman QC
Sitting as a judge of the High Court
Case No: PT-2019-CDF-000030
Ms Angharad Davis (instructed by Harrison Clark Rickerbys) for the claimant
None of the defendants appeared or was represented
Hearing dates: 27 April 2020
Approved Judgment
I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.
HIS HONOUR JUDGE Jarman QC
HH JUDGE Jarman QC:
The claimant, Mrs Amos, claims a declaration as to whether the forfeiture rule applies to her and if so, applies for modification of the effect of that rule under section 2 of the Forfeiture Act 1982 (the 1982 Act).
The circumstances in which the need to make the claim arises are tragic. On 7 January 2019, Mrs Amos and her late husband, then 81 years old, set off from their home at Pany y Bas, Pentrefelin, Llandeilo to drive to the funeral of Mr Amos's sister in Canterbury. They set off early, about 6.30 am, and Mrs Amos was driving, as her husband felt unwell. However, when they reached Slough they got lost. Mr Amos said he wanted to return home, and so they headed back. At about 4.30pm when it was raining and starting to get dark, they were approaching the end of the M4 motorway where there is a large roundabout near Pont Abraham Services, which Mrs Amos was familiar with. Mrs Amos was driving in the outside lane and approaching a line of traffic which had come to a stop at the roundabout. Instead of braking, Mrs Amos collided with the vehicle in front, causing a four-vehicle shunt. She lost consciousness and is not able to remember why she did not stop. She and her husband were helped out of the vehicle and initially Mr Amos appeared not to be seriously hurt. They were taken to hospital for a check-up, where Mr Amos died later that evening from multiple traumatic injuries caused in the accident, with his wife at his side.
Mrs Amos was charged with causing his death by careless driving under section 2B of the Road Traffic Act 1988, inserted by the Road Safety Act 2006. She pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. On 30 September 2019, when she was 74 years old and of previous clean character, she was sentenced by HH Judge Thomas QC to 32 weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Mr Amos left a will dated 29 June 2016 and Mrs Amos obtained probate in June 2019. By clause 4 of that will, he left his residuary estate after payment of expenses and debts to his wife if she survived him. If she did not, then by clause 5 he left £20,000 to the first defendant, his daughter by a previous marriage and his residuary estate between the second defendant, Mrs Amos' son by a previous marriage, and his grand-daughter the third defendant who is the daughter of the first defendant. Mr and Mrs Amos purchased their home in joint names in 1992, which unless the forfeiture rule applies unmodified, passes to Mrs Amos under the doctrine of survivorship.
The second and third defendant have not contested this claim. However, the first defendant filed an acknowledgment of service saying she intended to contest the claim. She set out her reasons in an accompanying statement, which did not include a statement of truth. The reasons included that her father had argued with her husband in 2016, but in 2018 her father said he wanted to make up with his son-in-law and that his will was not how he wanted it. On 4 February 2010 District Judge Vernon ordered the first defendant to file and serve any further evidence by 25 February 2020, which should address whether she asserted that the principle of forfeiture applies and if so whether the court should modify the effect of the rule under the 1982 Act and if not why not. The first defendant filed no further evidence and has played no further part in the claim. I heard the application remotely by telephone when counsel Ms Davies represented Mrs Amos, but none of the defendants took part in the hearing.
The principle of forfeiture is one of common law which has been recognised by statute in section 1 of the 1982 Act. That provides as follows:
(1) In this Act, the “forfeiture rule” means the rule of public policy which in certain circumstances precludes a person who has unlawfully killed another from acquiring a benefit in consequence of the killing.
(2) References in this Act to a person who has unlawfully killed another include a reference to a person who has unlawfully aided, abetted, counselled or procured the death of that other references in this Act to unlawful killing shall be interpreted accordingly.
The first case in which the 1982 Act was considered by the Court of Appeal was Dunbar v Plant [1998] Ch 412. Phillips LJ, giving the lead majority judgment, observed at page 429E that the rule as formulated in the 1982 Act was an example of a wider rule that a person cannot benefit from his own criminal act. At page 430D he said that when the rule was first applied by the courts there were only two types of unlawful killing, murder and manslaughter. At page 431E he gave examples of significant changes to the law in relation to unlawful killing to reflect public appreciation of the different degrees of culpability that attend offences which used to be treated as murder, and at the end of that page said this:
“The change in attitude reflected by the statutory gradation of offences of unlawful killing and, in particular, the mitigation that was sometimes present in case of diminished responsibility or provocation led to justifiable dissatisfaction with the application of the forfeiture rule indiscriminately in every case of unlawful killing.”
He referred at page 432B to the first time the courts manifested a desire to avoid the rigour of the rule, in Tinline v White Cross Insurance Association Co [1921] 3 KB 327. In that case it was held that the rule did not debar a driver found guilty of manslaughter by reckless driving from relying upon a certificate of insurance. Phillips LJ said that and other similar cases of unlawful killing by the manner of driving a motor vehicle could be justified on the basis of public policy requiring there to be valid insurance for the benefit of the family of the victim.
At page 433G he cited Salmon LJ in Grey v Parr [1971] 2 QB 554, 581 as saying:
“Manslaughter is a crime which varies infinitely in its seriousness. It may come very near to murder or amount to little more than inadvertence.”
After reviewing the authorities, Phillips LJ at page 435D said this:
“It is time to pause to take stock. Thus far, apart from the motor cases, there has been no instance of the court failing to apply the forfeiture rule to a case of unlawful killing. So far as the rule is concerned, I cannot see any logical basis for not applying it to all cases of manslaughter…in the crime of manslaughter the actus reus is causing the death of another. That actus reus is rendered criminal if it occurs in one of the various circumstances that are prescribed by law. Anyone guilty of manslaughter has…caused the death of another by criminal conduct. It is in such circumstances that the rule…applies.”
At page 437 H, he concluded:
“The appropriate course where the application of the rule appears to conflict with the ends of justice is to exercise the powers given by the [1982] Act.”
In subsequent cases the courts have held that the rule applied to all cases of manslaughter, namely Re Land Deceased [2007] 1 All ER 324, Dalton v Latham [2003] EWHC 796 (Ch) and Chadwick v Collinson [2014] EWHC 305. In the latter case HHJ Pelling QC said this:
“24. The Claimant contends that the Forfeiture Rule is of no application to at least some cases of manslaughter and that it...
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