Author: Sue Carr and Graham Chapman (2001)

Assessing damages for the negligent drafting of a will in the light of Corbett v Bond Pearce

Sue Carr and Graham Chapman provide an analysis of a recent Court of Appeal decision which
is not all that it might seem to be at first glance
(taken from Isssue No 15 – April 2001

In a series of recent cases the courts have demonstrated a willingness to recognise the existence of duties of care owed by professional advisers to persons other than their clients. These secondary duties owed to third-party non-clients must be consistent with the primary duties owed by the professional to his client. Often the duties will mirror each other and certainly the content and scope of any secondary duty will be informed by the nature of the primary duty owed to the client. It may in the past have been tempting to assume that any loss suffered by the third party would be no more extensive and, indeed, would only mirror that suffered by the client. Moreover, it may have been thought that such loss would only be recoverable at the action of the client or the third party and not both. These issues have recently been considered at first instance by Eady J¹ and by the Court of Appeal² in Corbett v. Bond Pearce.