PI Brief Update

Professional Negligence Law: Chapper v Jackson (Ch) 21/12/11

An application against a trustee in bankruptcy that he pay £200,000 to the estate as loss alleged to have been occasioned by the sale of a property at an undervalue failed. Following proceedings relating to the property the court ordered that it should sold for not less than £650,000. That was the price at which the property was sold. This was said to be at an undervalue and the trustee should have applied to the court to increase the minimum sale price and also by failing to initiate rent reviews in respect of the property. The court held that the in general terms the prospects of an intervention were poor. There was no possibility of reversing most of the orders previously obtained including the charging order and the order for sale. Central to the decision not to join the litigation was the limited costs in the estate and of the administration and the potential liability for the other party's costs. Without a new valuation there was no prospect of an application succeeding and the omission not to obtain s uch a valuation did not fall short of the trustee's duty. For similar reasons it was not a breach of duty not to have pursued rent reviews.