Ulster Bank Ltd v Fisher Fisher
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Court | Chancery Division (Northern Ireland) |
- Res judicata - Solicitors giving undertakings to client's bank to hold documents of title to client's land in trust for bank and to lodge net proceeds of sale of land with bank -Bank bringing proceedings to enforce undertakings -Judge holding that solicitors had fulfilled undertaking with regard to documents of title but not with regard to net proceeds of sale - Bank bringing fresh proceedings against solicitors alleging breach of collateral contract and negligence in relation to title deeds and proceeds of sale - Whether matters raised in statement of claim res judicata between parties - Whether bank estopped and precluded from relying on claims not put forward in previous proceedings.
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F. & F. were a firm of solicitors whose client V. was substantially indebted to the bank. V. owned a house, mortgaged to a third party, and adjoining lands. In February, 1991, the solicitors gave an undertaking to the bank that they would hold the title documents in respect of the adjoining lands and that if the sale thereof which appeared to be imminent did not proceed they would lodge the documents with the bank. In July, 1991, they undertook to lodge the net proceeds of sale if and when the land was sold and pending finalisation of the sale to hold the documents of title in trust for the bank. In 1995, the bank brought proceedings by way of originating notice of motion in the Chancery Division seeking an order requiring the solicitors to lodge the documents of title and the net proceeds of sale of the land with the bank. The judge held that the solicitors had fulfilled their undertaking as to the documents of title but had not complied with the undertaking given in July, 1991, to lodge the net proceeds of sale. However, he declined to make an order of a disciplinary nature for compensation against the solicitors. The bank subsequently began fresh proceedings claiming that it had been induced by the undertakings to afford substantial facilities to its customer V., and that there had been a collateral contract between the bank and the solicitors, of which they were in breach, whereby the solicitors agreed to lodge the net proceeds of sale and in the meantime to hold the documents of title in trust for the bank in consideration of the bank affording credit facilities to V. The bank also asserted a claim in negligence against the solicitors alleging that they had negligently handed over the documents of title to...
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Smith v Sabre Insurance Company Ltd
...9; [1993] RTR 406; [1993] PIQR P319 Taylor v O Wray & Co LtdUNK [1971] 1 Lloyd's Rep 497 Ulster Bank Ltd v Fisher and Fisher (A Firm)DNI [1999] NI 68; [1999] PNLR 794 Textbooks etc. referred to: Beaumont, P, "Res Judicata and Estoppel in Civil Proceedings" 1985 SLT (News) 133 Charlesworth, ......
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Moses v Charles et Al
...the issue to be determined now was not decided previously. 33 The claimant relies on the case of Ulster Bank Ltd. v. Fisher and Fisher [1999] P.N.L.R. 794 at page 798 to say that there is no requirement on the claimant to Join his present case with his application for a vesting order. “Wher......
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Mark Smith V. Sabre Insurance
...A number of different concepts are in play, not all of which are familiar to a Scots lawyer: see eg Ulster Bank Ltd v Fisher & Fisher [1999] PNLR 794, and Zuckerman On Civil Procedure (2nd edit) para 24.48 et seq. Looking more particularly at Brunsden, there is at least a suspicion, shared ......
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Rooney (James Joseph) and Kieran Kelly trading as JKL Furniture Warehouse
...Claims Court. [9] Miss Ellison referred me to the decision of Girvan J as he then was in Ulster Bank Limited v Fisher and Fisher (a firm) [1999] NI 68. That decision considered the doctrine of res judicata. Girvan J observed that English and Northern Ireland law in common with many other le......