Agency - 2000

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This page lists 14 cases, and was prepared on 04 October 2008.

Douglas King -v- T Tunnock Limited [2000] Eur LR 531; [2000] SLT 744; [2000] ScotCS 70; 2000 SC 424
2000 IHCS Lord Caplan	European, Agency	Casemap 1 Citers
	The pursuer had been employed as a commercial agent by the defendant which carried on business as a baker. The pursuer sold only the defendant's cakes and biscuits. The defendant decided to close its bakery business. The claimant sought compensation under regulation 17(6) to be assessed by reference to the value of the agency at the date of termination rather than on the basis of any future economic loss. He argued that compensation should be assessed without regard to events occurring after the date of termination and that when assessing the amount of compensation to which he was entitled the court should follow the established practice of the French courts in awarding two years' gross commission. Held: The agent was entitled to receive compensation for the loss of his business. Even in France the two years' commission rule is only a benchmark and the court had to examine the particular circumstances of the case. Earning potential was an important factor in valuing an agency and there might be cases in which it would be necessary to adduce evidence of the valuation of agencies in the particular local market. There was no such evidence here and the court commented on the limited evidence before it as to the value of the business. Having regard to the duration and previous profitability of the agency the claimant would have expected to receive a capital sum equal to at least two years' earnings in order to give it up and held that an award of that amount would not be unreasonable.
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X -v- Y, Z sub nom In re E (Enduring power of attorney) [2000] EWHC Ch 144; [2001] Ch 364; [2000] 1 FLR 882; [2000] 3 All ER 1004; [2000] 3 WLR 1974
18 Feb 2000 ChD Mrs Justice Arden DBE	Wills and Probate, Agency	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	The application was an appeal against an order registering an enduring power of attorney. The appeal from Master Lush was by way of rehearing. The donor had executed two powers. The second was invalid, and the donees of the first power sought to register that. It was objected that the second power revoked the first. Held: The court could seek assistance from the law commission report which led to the Act. The Act was silent as to whether a second power revoked an earlier one by implication. Parliament had allowed that more than one power should exist. When a power is revoked notice must be given to the donee. There was no implicit revocation. The further suggestion that the two earlier donees were unsuitable because of their personal conflict with the third was negatived by the fact that the donor's choice impliedly recognised the conflict.
	Statute References omitted
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Anglo Group Plc, Winther Brown & Co Ltd -v- Winter Brown & Co Ltd, BML (Office Computers) Ltd, Anglo Group Plc, BML (Office Computers) Ltd [2000] EWHC Technology 127
8 Mar 2000 TCC Toulmin QC J	Litigation Practice, Contract, Agency	Casemap 1 Cites
	cs Contract - Contract for provision of computer services - purchaser contract with finance company - duty of co-operation to be implied in computer contracts - practice - responsibilities of expert witnesses generally - whether computer company liable to purchaser - whether purchaser liable to finance company. The parties disputed the delivery and quality of a computer system. The buyer complained of many defects and eventually sought to reject the system. Held: Anglo's claim succeeded. The court provided updated Ikarian Reefer guidelines for expert witnesses. The court criticised one expert witness for failing to keep separate his role as negotiator and witness. It is normally inappropriate to seek to combine the two. The court gave Ikarian Reefer guidelines updated to comply with the CPR: "1.An expert witness should at all stages in the procedure, on the basis of the evidence as he understands it, provide independent assistance to the court and the parties by way of objective unbiased opinion in relation to matters within his expertise. This applies as much to the initial meetings of experts as to evidence at trial. An expert witness should never assume the role of an advocate. 2. The expert's evidence should normally be confined to technical matters on which the court will be assisted by receiving an explanation, or to evidence of common professional practice. The expert witness should not give evidence or opinions as to what the expert himself would have done in similar circumstances or otherwise seek to usurp the role of the judge. 3.He should co-operate with the expert of the other party or parties in attempting to narrow the technical issues in dispute at the earliest possible stage of the procedure and to eliminate or place in context any peripheral issues. He should co-operate with the other expert(s) in attending without prejudice meetings as necessary and in seeking to find areas of agreement and to define precisely arrears of disagreement to be set out in the joint statement of experts ordered by the court. 4.The expert evidence presented to the court should be, and be seen to be, the independent product of the expert uninfluenced as to form or content by the exigencies of the litigation. 5.An expert witness should state the facts or assumptions upon which his opinion is based. He should not omit to consider material facts which could detract from his concluded opinion. 6.An expert witness should make it clear when a particular question or issue falls outside his expertise. 7.Where an expert is of the opinion that his conclusions are based on inadequate factual information he should say so explicitly. 8.An expert should be ready to reconsider his opinion, and if appropriate, to change his mind when he has received new information or has considered the opinion of the other expert . He should do so at the earliest opportunity."
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Triffitt Nurseries and others -v- Salads Etcetera and others [2000] EWCA Civ 134
18 Apr 2000 CA The Master Of The Rolls Mrs Justice Smith Lord Justice Robert Walker	Agency, Insolvency	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
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Secured Residential Funding plc -v- Douglas Goldberg Hendeles & Co (a Firm) [2000] EWCA Civ 144
19 Apr 2000 CA	Agency, Land, Legal Professions
	Two linked companies were in business from the same premises lending money on mortgage. A loan from one company was made but supported only by documentation in the name of the other. The error was noticed, but new documents not prepared until after completion. In possession proceedings, the lender had to show that the money had been advanced by its associate as its agent. The operative date was the date on which the mortgage advance was made, not on completion.
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MHC Consulting Services Ltd -v- Tansell
19 Apr 2000 CA	Employment, Agency, Discrimination
	A company took on employees through an employment agency. The contract of employment was between the agency and the worker who was supplied to the company by the agency. It was the company which had relationship of principal to the worker, and so was responsible for compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. The absence of a direct contractual relationship was not enough to make that disapply.
	Statute References omitted

Fyffes Group Ltd and Others -v- Templeman and Others [2000] 2 Lloyds Rep 643
14 Jun 2000 QBD Toulson J	Agency, Equity	Casemap 1 Citers
	A person who bribed an agent to award a contract was liable to account for profits secured by the bribery as was the agent he bribed, but unlike for the agent, the extent of his liability was limited to exclude profits which he would have earned in any event. The recompense in damages should not be allowed to lead to the unjust enrichment of the injured party.

Tamarind International Ltd and others -v- Eastern Natural Gas (Retail) Ltd and Another [2000] EuLR 708
27 Jun 2000 QBD	Agency, Commercial	Casemap 1 Citers
	Where self employed agents had been taken on to market the respondent's services, and those agencies were terminated, such activities were those of commercial agents within the Directive, and they were entitled to compensation. Whether he was a secondary agent or not was a question foreign to English law, and not to be gleaned other than through the Regulations and the facts. If the agents are not secondary, they are within the Regulations. Here the respondent would derive a long term benefit from their activities, and they were not secondary.
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Commissioners of Customs and Excise -v- Littlewoods Organisation Plc
4 Jul 2000 ChD	VAT, Agency	Casemap 1 Cites
	The enhanced commission paid to mail order catalogue agents for supplying services to the company and which was to be set off against goods purchased by the agents themselves from the mail order company were vatable. The commission earned represented in part a discount on the goods purchased, but in reality was also a consideration for the supply of the agents' services.
	Statute References omitted

Barry -v- Davies (T/A Heathcote Ball & Co) and Others [2000] EWCA Civ 235
27 Jul 2000 CA	Contract, Consumer, Damages, Agency, Contract
	The claimant sought damages from an auctioneer who had failed to accept his bid, and withdrawn the items from the sale. Held: In an auction without reserve the auctioneer was not entitled to withdraw an item on the basis that the highest or only bid was too low. To do so was to put himself in a position as if he was bidding for the seller, and that was not allowed save under the Act. The auctioneer himself was liable in damages to the disappointed bidder in a sum equivalent to the market value less the rejected bid.
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Michael Gerson (Leasing) Limited -v- Michael Wilkinson and State Securities Limited [2000] EWCA Civ 250; [2000] EWCA Civ 251; [2001] QB 514 CA
31 Jul 2000 CA	Contract, Financial Services, Agency	Casemap
	Where goods were subject to a financing arrangement involving a sale and leaseback with a finance company, the goods were to be treated as constructively delivered to the finance company on the sale. Delivery required a voluntary act by the person in actual possession, but that could be satisfied by an acknowledgement of the rights of the purchaser. Such assumptions are in accordance with modern sensible commercial practice. The mere request for an invoice was not of itself sufficient to establish that a contract was in place where delivery might be expected to take place only on payment.
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Ingmar Gb Ltd -v- Eaton Leonard Technologies Inc Case C-381/98 C-381/98; [2000] ECR I-9305
16 Nov 2000 ECJ	Agency, European, Commercial	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	When a commercial agency was terminated in circumstances which under community law would entitle the agent to compensation, that compensation was payable even though the contract expressed itself to be governed by the law of California, and the principal was resident in California. The regime was a mandatory one for the protection of such agents, and would override private contractual provisions. Europa Directive 86/653/EEC - Self-employed commercial agent carrying on his activity in a Member State - Principal established in a non-member country - Clause submitting the agency contract to the law of the country of establishment of the principal)
	Statute References omitted
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Time Group Ltd -v- Panic Link Plc and Another [2000] EWCA Civ 417
17 Nov 2000 CA	Agency, Contract
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Standard Life Assurance Company (Incorporated Under Laws of Scotland By Act of Parliament) -v- Egan Lawson Limited [2000] EWCA Civ 293; [2001] 1 EGLR 27
21 Nov 2000 CA Simon Brown LJ, Mummery LJ, Latham LJ	Agency, Contract	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	The defendant appealed against judgment in favour of his (buyer's) estate agent for his commission in finding the property for it. A previous offer was rejected by the seller, but a subsequent agent of the buyer obtained the acceptance of a further offer. Was the intriduction by the first agent the effective cause of the sale? Held: None of the cases indicate that it is legally possible, in the absence of an express or implied contract to that effect, for the court to apportion the agreed commission between the two agents on an equitable basis that each introduction was a contributory cause of the purchase by the person introduced. Neither side proposed that solution as a legally permissible (or even desirable) result in this case. It is a case of winners and losers, all or nothing. In this case however, the claimants had not been the effective introducers. It was the action of the second agent which was the effective cause of the purchase. The actual purchase was not the same transaction proposed by the first agents.
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