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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

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