Lost Opportunity In The Downturn

The Court of Appeal in the recently reported judgment in Mallon v Halliwells (in administration) [2012], confirmed the principles to be applied when assessing losses arising from the negligent drafting of a commercial agreement, in particular the date when loss should be assessed and the application of the loss of a chance doctrine. In this case, the Claimant had not sought to rely on the rights he should have had but for the negligence until some time later than the breach of duty, by which time the value of those rights had deteriorated substantially.

Background

Halliwells acted for Aztec Developments (North West) Ltd ("Aztec") in connection with a joint venture agreement with Pierse Contracting Ltd ("Pierse") for the development of an apartment block. The development was to be carried out through a newly formed company, Brickpaper Ltd ("Brickpaper") which was owned jointly by Aztec and Pierse. It was agreed between them that once the joint venture was complete,