Brooke Homes (Bicester) Ltd v Portfolio Property Partners Ltd [2021]
Kirk Reynolds QC and Julia Petrenko, instructed by Underwood Solicitors, acted for the Defendants in Brooke Homes (Bicester) Ltd v Portfolio Property Partners Ltd [2021] EWHC 3015 (Ch).
The first group of Defendants (“P3”) had various options over development land near Bicester. P3 entered into agreements with the Claimant pursuant to which the parties were obliged, amongst other things, to “use all reasonable endeavours” and to “act in good faith” to enter into a conditional sale agreement pursuant to which some of the development land was to be sold to the Claimant.The parties did not reach agreement, and the Claimant brought the claim seeking some £500 million by way of damages. The Claimant further sought various proprietary remedies, including a declaration that the development land was held subject on trust or subject to a “Pallant v Morgan” equity in favour of it. The Claimant also brought a claim against a second group of defendants (“the Lender”) who, the Claimant said, had induced breach of the contract between the Claimant and P3.
The claim against the Lender was dismissed. In relation to the claim against P3, the Court found that P3 had breached their contractual obligations and awarded damages on a loss of chance basis. The claim for proprietary remedies did not, however, succeed.
The full judgment is available here.
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