Beware Of Absolvitor!

Primary Healthcare Centres (Broadford) Limited V Dr A. Humphrey, Dr P. Ravangave and Dr S. Turville [2010] Csoh 129

In this tricky case, the basic principle to bear in mind is that partners are jointly and severally liable for partnership debts, even after dissolution. As such, in principle, you can sue any partner individually for the whole debt and he can, in turn, sue his partners for a right of relief for their pro rata share. So far, so good. However, in practice, problems can arise....

Round 1

In the first action, the landlords sued only two of the partners of their tenant, Dr Ravangave and Dr Turville, agreeing that they had released the third partner, Dr Humphrey, from liability under the lease when he retired in March 2003 (under a mistaken belief as to the date of dissolution of the partnership).