Cases - Omega Trust Co Ltd v Wright Son & Pepper

Record details

Name

Omega Trust Co Ltd v Wright Son & Pepper

Date

[1997]

Citation

18 EG 120

Keywords

Negligence in valuations and surveys

Summary

The defendant valuers provided the owner of commercial property with a valuation which contained a clause stating:

'This report shall be for private and confidential use of the clients'.

However, the valuers subsequently agreed that the report could be readdressed to a named lender. When the loan was made, it was shared between the named lender and another company in the same corporate group, in the proportions of 60% and 40%. The Court of Appeal held that the valuers owed a duty of care to the named lender, but that the disclaimer was effective to rule out a claim by the other company. In effect, therefore, the way the loan was structured (something of which the valuers knew nothing) meant that their total liability was reduced by 40%.