No duty breaches
International law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has seen off a £50 million professional negligence claim after a High Court judge ruled the firm did nothing wrong in its handling of a failed luxury property deal in west London.
Following a three-week trial earlier this year, Mr Justice Richards ruled against Kristian Siem, a Norwegian businessman, property developer Steven Wake and Wake’s company Chapters Property London.
At the heart of the case was the claimants’ allegation that WBD’s handling of the deal cost them a lucrative opportunity to redevelop a high-end site in Kensington, which they say would have generated significant profits had it gone ahead.
WBD had advised Wake on the transaction, negotiating against City law firm Withers, which acted for the seller. The central dispute concerned how to protect the buyer if sale proceeds were moved out of a Singapore trust structure, with WBD seeking a £1 million retention mechanism that the seller objected to. The claimants argued the firm should instead have pursued a non-distribution undertaking, which they said would have kept the deal alive.
The court rejected that argument, with the judge accepting the evidence of WBD partner Tom Fitzpatrick and finding that the alternative approach the claimants pointed to had never actually been offered by the seller’s lawyers.
Mr Justice Richards found the redevelopment fell apart because of commercial concerns rather than any legal misstep by WBD. Even if the firm had acted differently, the judge found Siem would likely have pulled out anyway, driven by doubts about the project and the wider property market.
The judge said the claims failed on multiple grounds, finding that WBD had not breached any duty, that the claimants had not established factual causation, and that none of the proposed redevelopment schemes stood a real or substantial chance of obtaining planning permission.
A further hearing to deal with costs is expected to follow.