authorised by the Auctioneers and Estate Agents
Institute by reference to a scale of fees payable
for "Negotiating a Sale by Private Contract" or
"introducing a person able ready and willing to
purchase on terms authorised by the Vendor". A
purchaser was introduced to the defendant by a
disinterested third party and the defendant then
asked the Estate Agent to attend to the negoiations
which lead to a sale. The Estate Agent claimed
£249 scale fees as remuneration for conducting as
Agent the defendant's negotiations.
It was held that the Agent by reason of his
negotiations had been the efficient cause of the
sale and was entitled to his scale fee.
S. P. Rolfe & Co. v George, 113 SJ. 244.
Solicitor, Negligence
A Mr. Bailey took his wife, his son, and his
parents in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Perry, for a drive.
An accident occurred for which Mr. Bailey was
to blame and he and Mr. Perry were killed and
the other passengers injured. Mr. Bailey's brother
consulted an assistant of
the Plaintiff about
obtaining Probate of the Estate and about tht
question of claims arising out of the accident.
The assistant thinking Mrs. Bailey was the obvious
person obtained a Grant in her name in January
1965, but in doing so overlooked the fact that in
the event of negotiations with the insurers breaking
down
and
litagation proving necessary Mrs.
Bailey would be unable to sue because she would
be the nominal Defendant
in
the action. This
error was not irrecovable: if, during the next six
months, it had been noticed someone else could
have been substituted as Administratrix.
Negotiations with the insurers failed to produce
a settlement and the assistant being oblivious of
the fact that proceedings against the Estate of the
Deceased tort feasor had to be begun within six
months of
the Grant of Administration
the
insurers repudiated liability in March 1966 as the
claims were statute barred. A claim was made
against the Plaintiff in this action, Mr. Forney,
who in turn notified the Defendants that he would
require
indemnity
under
his
professional
indemnity
policies.
Claims
were
made
against
the Plaintiff by Mrs. Bailey, her son,
and Mrs. Perry. The Defendants drew Mr. For-
ney's attention to his policy which provided as
follows: "Limits of Indemnity, (a) in respect of
any one claim or number of claims arising out of
the same occurance the sum of £3,000.
(b) in respect of all claims under this policy
the
sum of £15,000. The underwriters were
agreeable to settle all the claims up to a limit of
£3,000, damages were subsequently assessed as
follows, Mrs. Perry for her own injuries £2,533, as
executrix £2.330. Mrs. Bailey for her
injuries
£2,262. lan Bailey £150, the costs totaled £1,512.
The
issue
in
the present proceedings were
whether the claims arose out of one or two or
three or four occurrences.
In rejecting the Defendants submission that the
claims arose out of one occurance and
that
accordingly the liability was limited to £3,000. Mr.
Justice Donaldson said that the word "occurance"
referred not to the accident but to the insured.
The question to be answered therefore was "how
often did
the assistants negligence occur"
the
answer was twice, the first when Mrs. Bailey was
allowed to become administratrix and the second
when
the writs were not
issued within
the
limited period.
On a further point it was held that the £3,000
limit applied to all liability whether in respect of
damages or costs.
Provisions in the policy relating to the insured's
own costs also gave rise to difficulty and it was
held that as the insureds had not in fact "required"
Mr. Forney to contest the claim the clauses did not
apply.
Forney v Dominion Insurance Co., Ltd. The
Times, 29th March 1969.
BOOK REVIEW
An Introduction to Irish Death Duties by Charles
Haccius. Published by the Institute of Taxation
in Ireland at £2/10/0.
This work is intended as an introduction to the
Law of Death Duties in Ireland and is aimed at the
student rather than the experienced practitioner. It
fills a definite need long felt by students, a need
agravated by the growing diversions between Irish
and British Death Duty Legislation. Thus Legacy
and Succession Duty which were abolished
in
England and Scotland by the Finance Act of 1949
are rarely dealt with
in detail by
the modern
British text book. Mr. Haccius makes a cbtennin.v!
effort to sketch a broad path through this intricate
field and as he says himself "avoids the temptation
of straying from the broad practical highway into
the narrow
theoretical byways of ones own
choosing". While designed primarily for students
the book will prove an invaluable asset in many
Solicitors offices for it contains all the important
Irish decisions and a great number of British and
Commonwealth
decisions
on
Estate
Duty
questions. A great deal of information is packed
12