Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2008] All ER (D) 226 (Jan)
Neutral Citation: [2008] EWCA Civ 18
Court: Court of Appeal, Civil Division
Judge:

Mummery, Jacob LJJ and Mann J
Representation Brent McDonald (instructed by the Bar ProBono Unit) for the defendant.
  Glenn Campbell (instructed by Halliwells) for the claimant.
  Geraint Wheatley (instructed by Birchall Blackburn) for PB Ltd.
Judgment Dates: 29 January 2008

Catchwords

Assignment - Right of action - Right to damages - Assignment from defendant's company to defendant 'any sums of money' recoverable from dispute with claimant company - Claimant denying defendant having cause of action against it - Judge finding assignment not valid assignment of right of action - Defendant not able to rely on assignment for purposes of set-off and counterclaim - Whether judge erring.

The Case

Where the claimant company had been involved in a dispute with the defendant's company and where the claimant had subsequently provided the defendant with further supplies for which the defendant had failed to pay prior to the company's dissolution, the whole text of an assignment to the defendant of any sums recoverable from the dispute with the claimant had to be read in context. When approached on that basis it was capable of applying to the dispute with the claimant, in which the company had the right to a sum of money recoverable by action. Accordingly, the judge had been wrong in construing the assignment so as to confine it to the fruits of action by the company.

Practice Areas

If you are a LexisLibrary subscriber you can read more about this case here.

Lexis®Library

  • An Official transcript is the final version of the judgment prepared by shorthand writers. LexisLibrary contains all judgments from the High Court and aboveView Judgment
  • Cases related to this particular case that are related to, or discuss this caseView related cases
  • Commentary discussing this particular case from LexisLibrary's comprehensive range of titles including Butterworths, Halsbury's and TolleyView related commentary
  • The All England Law Reports comprises judgments with headnotes and catchwords indicating the area of law and key issues of the case prepared by legally qualified editorsFind AllER Reports