Littler v Price

[2004] QCA 383

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Littler & Anor v Price & Ors [2004] QCA 383

PARTIES:

ALAN JOHN LITTLER
(plaintiff/respondent)
SUSAN ELIZABETH LITTLER
(plaintiff/respondent)
v
LINDA JEAN PRICE
(first defendant)
C & L PRICE PTY LTD ACN 060 624 008 trading as LINDA PRICE BUSINESS, INSURANCE AND INVESTMENT SERVICES
(second defendant)
MARK GEORGE TEARE
(third defendant/appellant)

FILE NO/S:

Appeal No 6852 of 2004
DC No 4924 of 2001

DIVISION:

Court of Appeal

PROCEEDING:

General Civil Appeal

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court at Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

15 October 2004

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

9 September 2004

JUDGES:

Jerrard JA, Cullinane and Holmes JJ
Separate reasons for judgment of each member of the Court, each concurring as to the order made

ORDER:

Appeal dismissed with costs to be assessed

CATCHWORDS:

CIVIL LAW — DAMAGES —NEGLIGENCE — DUTY OF CARE — DUTIES OF LEGAL PRACTITIONER — where appellant failed to advise clients about absence of guarantees in lease — whether legal practitioner under duty to advise of risks and absence of any protection against such risks — whether advice outside the duty of legal practitioners — where appellant failed to communicate with clients until execution of lease — where lessee company failed and lease payments ceased

Amadio Pty Ltd v Henderson & Ors (1998) 81 FCR 149, applied
Attard v Samson (1966) 110 Sol Jo 249, cited
Fox v Everingham & Howard (1983) 50 ALR 337, applied
Henderson & Ors v Amadio Pty Ltd (No 1) & Ors (1995) 62 FCR 1, applied
Orszulak v Hoy (1989) Aust Tort Rep 80-293, cited
Solicitors’ Liability Committee v Gray & Winter (1997)147 ALR 154, cited
Spector v Ageda [1973] Ch 30, applied
Sykes v Midland Bank Executor and Trustee Co Ltd [1971] 1 QB 113, cited
Yates Property Corp Pty Ltd (in liq) v Boland (1998) Aust Tort Reports 81-490, cited

COUNSEL:

D J S Jackson QC with R P S Jackson for the appellant
M M Stewart SC with A P J Collins and M Hovarth for the respondents

SOLICITORS:

Brian Bartley and Associates for the appellant
Quinn & Scattini for the respondents

1. JERRARD JA:  In this appeal I have had the considerable advantage of reading the reasons for judgment and order proposed by Cullinane J, and I respectfully agree with those.  I gratefully adopt His Honour’s recital of the relevant facts, including the all important one that the long term lease executed by the plaintiff purchasers of the unit at the Coolum Beach unit complex imposed significant obligations to those plaintiffs upon that lessee company, which obligations were not secured by any guarantee from the Directors of that lessee company or any other security at all.  I add the following remarks.

1. These are that the appellant solicitor forwarded to the financier, for execution by Mr and Mrs Littler, almost all of the documents which are between AR 406 through to AR 458.  Those include a loan agreement; the contract to purchase the unit; special conditions regarding refurbishment work to the complex;…