The Fair-Dealing Fiduciary Rule: A Comment on Barr v Cassels
Author | |
DOI | 10.3366/elr.2019.0527 |
Published date | 01 January 2019 |
Date | 01 January 2019 |
Pages | 89-94 |
In
James Cassels (“the defender”) had acted as solicitor for the Barr family for several years, in a variety of matters. In 2003 the defender assisted Mr Barr in a conveyance of a parcel of land to his daughter, Agnes Barr (“the pursuer”). In 2006 the defender's law firm acted as the pursuer's solicitor in a transfer of the same plot of land from herself to the joint names of the pursuer and defender (“the disposition”). At the same time, the pursuer was sent an advice letter, explaining the substance of the disposition and strongly urging her to seek independent legal advice, accompanied by a waiver letter, to be returned in case she declined to do so. Alongside their professional relationship, the pursuer and the defender had been engaged in a romantic relationship, and started a life together in a house built on the land transferred in their joint names. Several years later, the parties separated and in 2015 the defender was granted decree for division and sale of the heritable property. The pursuer filed an action seeking reduction of the disposition on grounds of misrepresentation, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty by the defender.
The court rejected the pursuer's action on all grounds. The case for misrepresentation failed mainly due to the “very serious concerns”
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