Cases - Flannery v Halifax Estate Agencies Ltd

Record details

Name

Flannery v Halifax Estate Agencies Ltd

Date

[1999]

Citation

EWCA Civ 811

Keywords

Expert witness

Summary

The first instance judge in this negligent valuation case had given judgment for the defendant valuers against the claimant mortgagors with the simple statement that he preferred the evidence of the defendants' experts. The Court of Appeal held that the failure of a trial judge to give reasons for conclusions reached at first instance could of itself constitute a good ground of appeal. This is especially so in cases involving expert evidence.

'That today's professional judge owes a general duty to give reasons is clear ... although there are some exceptions ... It is not a useful task to attempt to make absolute rules as to the requirement for the judge to give reasons ... For instance, when the court, in a case without documents, depending on eye-witness accounts, is faced with two irreconcilable accounts, there may be little to say other than that the witnesses for one side were more credible ... But with expert evidence, it should usually be possible to be more explicit in giving reasons ...'

(See Eckersley v Binnie, which the court applied.)