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⭐SOLICITOR S NEGLIGENCE: LIFE AFTER WHITE V. JONES - SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ESTATES PRACTICE
SOLICITOR S NEGLIGENCE: LIFE AFTER WHITE V. JONES - SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ESTATES PRACTICE
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1 SOLICITOR S NEGLIGENCE: LIFE AFTER WHITE V. JONES - SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ESTATES PRACTICE PAUL D. MILNE2 SOLICITORS' OBLIGATIONS - SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ESTATES PRACTICE Paul D. Milne* One of our challenges as lawyers is to assist our clients to plan their affairs in a creative, thoughtful, effective manner, using our experience and legal parameters as planning tools rather than as restrictive devices. Our advice and counsel carry consequences for our clients and unless we are aware of the consequences, our advice and counsel may result in our clients and their beneficiaries suffering loss which may rebound on us. This paper is an exploration of a number of estate planning circumstances where failure to understand the consequences of our counsel, or lack thereof, could cause loss to and create conflict among family members and relations and, in some cases, give rise to liability to us as solicitors. Several important court decisions will be reviewed in which solicitor s negligence in estate matters was alleged. The author s objective is to draw inferences from these decisions and formulate guidelines for an estate planning practice which reflect the needs of our clients. In this paper, a Last Will and Testament will be referred to as a Will and the maker of a Will as the Testator or Testatrix. *A partner with the law firm of Simpson, Wigle LLP The author acknowledges the input and assistance of J.S. Marshall, Q.C. and C.A. Olsiak in the preparation of this paper and P.A. Lalonde and T. Youdan for their helpful suggestions.3 THE WILL - LIABILITY IN NEGLIGENCE TO THE DISAPPOINTED BENEFICIARY 3 A number of articles have been written regarding the extent to which solicitors are liable for negligence in the drafting and execution of Wills and whether there is also a duty owed to beneficiaries who are disentitled or who fail to receive a gift under a Will due to the negligence of the solicitor who is responsible for drafting the Will. One of the earlier articles which dealt with these issues was written by Richard Jackman in 1971 entitled Solicitor s Liability for Negligence in the Drafting and Execution of a Will. 1 He pointed out that where a Will is caused to become partially or wholly impotent, the only one to suffer is the beneficiary. Jackman initially considered the U.S. experience and the fact that until 1958, in every case beneficiaries who had brought actions against solicitors who had negligently drafted and directed the execution of Wills which deprived the beneficiary of any benefit under the Will, failed to obtain Judgments against solicitors because of the common law doctrine of privity of contract. However, he noted that in 1958, the California Supreme Court for the first time took the position that lawyers who undertake to draft Wills and supervise execution of them, cannot escape liability to beneficiaries because of a lack of privity of contract with them. For the first time, beneficiaries were entitled to recover against the solicitor for his or her negligence in an action in tort.4 4 The Canadian experience at that point was represented by the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Re: Fitzpatrick. 2 This was a case where a lawyer who drew the Will of Mr. Fitzpatrick inadvertently failed to properly witness the Will with the result that the widow of the late Mr. Fitzpatrick sued the lawyer for his negligence. In his article, Mr. Jackman states that the Court of Appeal said that the solicitor owed no duty to the beneficiary under the Testator s Will and even if there was negligence on the solicitor s part, there could be no recovery since there was no privity of contract between the Plaintiff and the Defendant. The author concluded that the law respecting solicitor s liability to beneficiaries was in a development stage and that at common law a solicitor contracts to be skilful and careful: for failure to perform this obligation, the solicitor may be made liable in contract or even in tort for negligence. Why, then, should he not be liable in this instance? Until the 1979 English case of Ross v. Caunters 3, the law remained static in Canada and Mr. Jackman s challenge to make solicitors liable to beneficiaries was not taken up by the courts in Canada. Ross v. Caunters set the stage for the development of the law in Canada. ROSS V. CAUNTERS This case dealt with a gift to a third party beneficiary with whom the Testator was visiting when his Will was signed and who was known to the Testator's solicitors. The Testator had instructed his solicitors to prepare a Will which included a gift to the Testator s sister-in-law, Mrs. Ross. The Testator instructed the lawyers to forward the unexecuted Will to him in care of 1 Richard Jackman, Ottawa Law Review, Volume at Page Re: Fitzpatrick, Ont. L.R. 3, at 4, [1924] 1 D.L.R. 981, 54 O.L.R. 3(S.C. App. Div.) 3 Ross v. Caunters [1970] 3 All E.R. 580, (Ch.D.) An English Chancery Division Case5 his sister-in-law whom he intended to visit. The lawyers did so and included in the covering letter instructions as to the manner in which the Will was to be executed - in the presence of two independent witnesses (i.e. not somebody benefiting under the Will).... The solicitors failed to warn the Testator in their letter that Section 15 of the 1837 Wills Act provided that attestation of a Will by a beneficiary s spouse would invalidate a gift to the beneficiary. Mrs. Ross husband attested the Will and, when it was returned to the lawyers, they failed to notice the mistake. After the death of the Testator, the lawyers notified Mrs. Ross that the bequest to her of a share of the estate was void because her husband had witnessed the Will. As a result, she sued the law firm claiming damages in negligence for the loss of the gift under the Will. The head-note to the case summarizes Mrs. Ross' allegations and the solicitors' responses: 5 The Plaintiff alleged that the solicitors were negligent in failing (i) to warn the Testator about the consequences of Section 15, (ii) on the return of the Will to check that it had been executed in conformity with the 1837 Act, (iii) to observe that the Plaintiff s husband was an attesting witness, and (iv) to draw that fact to the Testator s attention so that he could re-execute the Will or make a new and valid Will. The solicitors admitted negligence but denied that they were liable to the Plaintiff, contending (i) that a solicitor was liable only to his client and then only in contract and not in tort and could not, therefore, be liable in tort to a third party, (ii) that for reasons of policy, a solicitor ought not to be liable in negligence to anyone except his client, and (iii) that in any event, the Plaintiff had no cause of action in negligence because the damage suffered was purely financial. The solicitors were held liable to Mrs. Ross for their negligence and she was awarded damages to the extent of the benefits she would have received under the Will of the Testator. This case is particularly significant in that the solicitors liability was based on an extension of the Hedley Byrne & Heller principle that there could be liability for financial loss resulting from reliance on a negligent misrepresentation of fact if the person making the6 6 representation has some special skill and knows, or ought to know, that the other party is relying on that skill. Vice-Chancellor Megarry s main conclusions were summed up in his Judgment as follows: 1...., there is no longer any rule that a solicitor who is negligent in his professional work can be liable only to his client in contract; he may be liable to his client and to others for the tort of negligence. 2. The basis of the solicitors liability to others is either an extension of the Hedley Byrne principle, or, or more probably, a direct application of the principle of Donoghue v. Stevenson. 3. A solicitor who is instructed by his client to carry out a transaction that will confer a benefit on an unidentified third party owes a duty of care towards the third party in carrying out that transaction, in that the third party is a person within his direct contemplation as someone who is likely to be so closely and directly affected by his acts or omissions that he can reasonably foresee that the third party is likely to be injured by those acts or omissions. 4. The mere fact that the loss to such a third party caused by the negligence is purely financial, and is in no way a physical injury to person or property, is no bar to the claim against the solicitor. 5. In such circumstances, there are no considerations which suffice to negative or limit the scope of the solicitor s duty to the beneficiary. This case left many questions to be answered which were not dealt with satisfactorily until the White v. Jones case. However at a minimum, Ross v. Caunters commenced the discussion of the exclusion from liability of economic loss to a beneficiary (third party) as a result of a solicitor s negligence. The basis for this discussion was summarized in the head-note of the Ross v. Caunters decision as follows: The fact that the Plaintiff s claim in negligence was for purely financial loss and not for injury to the person or property, did not preclude her claim, for, having regard to the high7 7 degree of proximity between her and the solicitors arising from the fact that they knew of her and also knew that their negligence would be likely to cause her financial loss, the Plaintiff was entitled to recover the financial loss she had suffered by their negligence. Extension of liability for financial loss to third party beneficiaries who were unknown to the solicitors for the Testator was the next logical step for the courts to take. WHITE V. JONES White v. Jones 4, like Ross v. Caunters, dealt with the question of whether a solicitor owes a duty of care in the preparation of a client s Will to an intended beneficiary of the Testator. In giving an affirmative answer, the Court of Appeal unanimously concluded that the case against the solicitor passed the test of duty in terms of foreseeability, proximity and reasonableness. Because of the importance of White v. Jones, it is worthwhile to review the facts of the case and the Judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. In his paper, White v. Jones [1995] 1 All E.R. 691 (H.L.) 5, Timothy Youdan summarized the facts of White v. Jones as follows: For a short period in 1986 the Testator was estranged from his two daughters and he executed a Will under which he gave nothing to them. By mid-june in 1986, the Testator and his daughters became reconciled and he decided to make a new Will under which he 4 White v. Jones [1993] 3 All E.R. page 481, Court of Appeal and [1995]1 All E.R. page House of Lords 5 Timothy Youdan, Case Comment: Jones and Others v. White and Another, CBAO Program - Righting Wills, 19958 8 would leave a substantial proportion of his estate to each daughter. Unfortunately, the Testator died on September, 14, 1986 before the execution of his new Will and without effectively revoking his prior Will. The following was the sequence of events:! During the period from mid-june to about July 17 the Testator and one of the daughters each telephoned the defendant Mr. Jones (a clerk in the office of the defendant solicitors) and told him of the Testator s wish to change his Will. Mr. Jones suggested that the Testator should jot down his wishes and he, Mr. Jones, would deal with the matter.! The Testator signed a letter, which was received by the defendant solicitors on July 17, in which he stated among other things that he wished each of his daughters to receive ^9,000 (the entire estate was only worth about ^29,000).! Appointments were made on three occasions for Mr. Jones to meet with the Testator at the Testator s house but Mr. Jones did not keep the appointments.! On August 16, Mr. Jones dictated an internal memorandum to another member of the firm asking for the latter to draft a new Will for the Testator and stated: I have an appointment to see [the Testator] on [blank] and if at all possible would you let me have the Will by that date. Nothing further was done by Mr. Jones or by the defendant solicitors and this memorandum was not in fact typed out until September 5.! On August 17, Mr. Jones went on holiday and returned to the office on September 1. On his returning, one of the Testator s daughters made an appointment for the Testator to meet with Mr. Jones on September 17.! On August 23, the Testator went on a holiday which was intended to last for two weeks. While away, he fell and hurt his head. He returned home on September 6 or 7 and died from a heart attack on September 14. This was an appeal from a Lower Court decision and, even though the solicitor defendants in the Lower Court had admitted negligence, they were found not to be liable on the basis that the principle of Ross v. Caunters did not apply to the failure to prepare a Will for execution and also that the damages were too speculative and uncertain in extent to be9 recoverable. The Court of Appeal and House of Lords decisions are informative regarding practice issues, the subject matter of this paper. In its decision, the Court of Appeal clearly stated that although the prospective 9 beneficiaries played some part in the steps taken by the Testator towards the preparation of a new Will in that they were aware of his wishes, they were aware of his instructions to the solicitors and they even acted as a channel of communication between the Testator and the solicitors, those facts were irrelevant when considering the liability question. On these facts, the court decided there was no question of reliance and, accordingly, the reliance cases were not considered. The court specifically followed Vice-Chancellor Megarry s statement in Ross v. Caunters that in considering the liability question, it is of the utmost importance to keep in mind that if there is no liability, the result is striking: the only person who has a valid claim against the solicitor has suffered no loss, and the only person who has suffered a loss has no valid claim. The Executors can sue the solicitor for damages for professional negligence, but they can recover only nominal damages because the Estate has suffered no loss. All that has happened is that, by reason of the negligence, on the Testator s death, the entire Estate passes to a different beneficiary. The intended beneficiary suffers a loss, but he has no right of recourse against the solicitor for professional negligence which caused his loss. It would be a sorry reflection on English law if, indeed, that is the position today. Once again, we see the court taking into account the importance of redressing loss and extending the law to provide that redress. It is also worth noting that the court followed the House of Lords decision in Caparo Industries plc v. Dickman 6, which established the principle that for there to be a duty to take reasonable care to avoid causing damage of a particular type to a particular person or class of persons, three factors must coalesce: Foreseeability of damage; 6 Caparo Industries plc v. Dickman [1990] 1 All E.R AC 605 [1990] 2 W.L.R. 35810 10 A close and direct relationship characterized by the law as proximity or neighbourhood; and The situation must be one where it is fair, just and reasonable that the law should impose the duty of the given scope upon the one party for the benefit of the other. The court had no difficulty in finding that the three factors coalesced in this case as a solicitor must foresee that a failure to prepare a Will as instructed by one s client and arrange for it to be duly executed, the disappointed beneficiaries will suffer financial loss. Once death occurs, nothing can be done to remedy the solicitor s negligence and the Estate will pass to those entitled under any valid, unrevoked Will and subject thereto to those entitled on an intestacy. It is then too late to prepare a new Will and further, payment of damages to a client s Estate would not provide a means of recompensing the disappointed beneficiary for the solicitor s professional negligence. Any monies paid to the Estate would pass under the testamentary dispositions which fail to carry out the Testator s instructions. Accordingly, money paid to the Estate would not go to the disappointed beneficiaries. Finally, in deciding whether there is, between a solicitor and intended beneficiary, a relationship of proximity and whether it is fair, just and reasonable that there should be a liability imposed on a solicitor to compensate the intended beneficiary, the court held that a coherent system of law demands that there should be an effective remedy against the solicitor. The Court of Appeal also held that it was fair, just and reasonable that the solicitor should be liable in damages to the intended beneficiary; otherwise, there would be no sanction in respect of the solicitor s breach of his professional duty and thus there is a special relationship between the solicitor and intended beneficiary which should attract a liability if the solicitor is negligent. It is important to note that the Court of Appeal did not excuse the solicitors from their (1923)11 11 failure to exercise due diligence in the preparation of the Testator s Will. Instructions were received on July 16 th to prepare a document which was, after all, a very simple Will and it was not until a month later that the clerk went on vacation. The court also noted that there was no evidence before the court on the law firm s usual practice when carrying out instructions to prepare a Will. Comments such as these have led to the view of some in the profession, that a two-week turnaround time for drafting a Will is appropriate. Whether or not a two-week turnaround time is appropriate, will probably depend on the circumstances surrounding the giving of instructions by a Testator, the actions of the lawyer as a result of receiving the instructions, the usual practice of the law firm and special circumstances such as the consent by the Testator to delay in drafting the Will because of busyness of the lawyer and such things as research and the need to consult with other advisors that may be required in respect of preparation of the Will. The appellate decision in White v. Jones was affirmed by the House of Lords and although each of the three Judges in the majority gave separate reasons, it is Lord Goff s reasons which are most instructive. After reciting the general rule that there is no liability in solicitor s negligence for an omission unless the Defendant is under some pre-existing duty, he stated that the question arises how liability can arise in the present case in the absence of a contract. Lord Goff also concluded that a contractual solution was not available because of the privity of contract doctrine and because the case did not provide a suitable opportunity for reconsideration of such a fundamental doctrine. As was the case in the Court of Appeal, Lord Goff was concerned that if a duty was not owed by the lawyer to the disappointed beneficiary, then the only person who had suffered a loss had no claim. He decided that in cases such as White v. Jones, the House of Lords should12 12 extend to the intended beneficiary a remedy under the Hedley Byrne principle by holding that the assumption of responsibility by the solicitor towards his client should be held in law to extend to the intended beneficiary who (as the solicitor can reasonably foresee) may, as a result of the solicitor s negligence, be deprived of his intended legacy in circumstances which neither the Testator nor his Estate will have a remedy against the solicitor. Such liability will not, of course, arise in cases which the defect in the Will comes to light before the death of the Testator and the Testator either leaves the Will as it is or otherwise continues to exclude the previously intended beneficiary from the relevant benefit... As I see it, not only does this conclusion produce practical justice as far as all parties are concerned, but it also has the following beneficial consequences. There is no unacceptable circumvention of established principles of the law of contract. No problem arises by reason of the loss being of a purely economic character; Such assumption of responsibility will, of course, be subject to any term of the contract between the solicitor and the Testator which may exclude or restrict the solicitor s liability to the Testator under the principle in Hedley, Byrne. It is true that such a term would be most unlikely to exist in practice; but as a matter of principle, it is right that this largely theoretical question should be addressed. Since the Hedley, Byrne principle is founded upon an assumption of responsibility, the solicitor may be liable for negligent omissions as well as negligent acts of commission. I do not consider that damages for loss of an expectation are excluded in cases of negligence arising under the principle in Hedley, Byrne, simply because the cause of action is classified as tortious. Such damages may in principle be recoverable in cases of contractual negligence; and I cannot see that, for present purposes, any relevant distinction can be drawn between the two forms of action. In particular, an expectation of loss may well occur in cases where a professional man, such as a solicitor, has assumed responsibility for the affairs of another; and I for my part can see no reason in principle why the professional man should not, in an appropriate case, be liable for such loss under the Hedley, Byrne principle... let me emphasize that I can see no injustice in imposing liability upon a negligent solicitor in a case such as the present where in the13 13 absence of a remedy in this form neither the Testator s Estate nor the disappointed beneficiary will have a claim for the loss caused by his negligence. This is the injustice which, in my opinion, the Judges of this country should address by recognizing that cases such as these call for an appropriate remedy and that the common law is not so sterile as to be incapable of supplying that remedy when it is required. Having established a duty to the disappointed beneficiary, the judiciary s next logical step was to develop and refine the duty. Another English decision, Carr-Glynn v. Frearsons 7, also dealt with liability to a third party beneficiary; however, the assumption of responsibility by the Testatrix relieved the solicitor from liability. This case warrants a close examination as it contains important comments about solicitors' practice in the drafting of Wills. CARR -GLYNN V. FREARSONS ( A FIRM) The facts of the case as described in the head-note were as follows:! In 1989 the Testatrix executed a new Will drawn up by the Defendant s solicitors leaving the Plaintiff her half share in a property in lieu of another bequest contained in a previous Will.! The solicitors advised the Testatrix that there was some doubt as to whether her share in the property was held by her as a joint tenant or as a tenant in common and that if it was held on a joint tenancy, a gift to the Plaintiff would not be effective unless she severed the14 14 joint tenancy.! The Testatrix stated that she would obtain the deeds to clarify the position and the solicitors did not pursue the matter further. The Testatrix died in August 1993 and the property, which was held on a joint tenancy, passed by survivorship to the remaining joint tenant, the Plaintiff s brother. The brother refused to give the Plaintiff a share in the property.! As a result, the Plaintiff received nothing under the Will and brought an action for negligence against the solicitors contending that they had breached their duty of care to her as an intended beneficiary in failing to ensure on what basis the Testatrix held her share in the property, in failing to ensure the joint tenancy was severed and, thereby, in failing to give effect to the Testatrix s wishes. The defendant law firm, Frearsons, not only prepared the Will for the Testatrix but had prepared the previous Wills and had also acted both on the purchase of the property and on the execution of a deed of gift by which the property was conveyed to the Plaintiff s brother and the Testatrix as joint tenants. The lawyer, a partner in the defendant law firm, who prepared the Will of the Testatrix and attested to its execution, had not acted on the purchase of the property or on the subsequent deed of gift. She discovered upon a note in the file which was enough to concern her as to the manner in which title to the property was held and, after determining that the file 7 Carr-Glynn v. Frearsons [1997] 2 All E.R., 61415 15 was no longer available, she wrote the Testatrix, advising her of her concerns regarding title to the property and informing her that the law firm no longer had the file relating to the property. The Testatrix did not give her instructions to obtain the deeds and, in fact, when she attended on the lawyer to execute the Will, the lawyer made the following note: Mrs. L. to get Deeds so ownership of homelands can be checked. The Testatrix failed to pursue the issue of getting the deeds to clarify the ownership and eventually died without having done so. After reviewing relevant cases and, in particular, after an extensive consideration of White v. Jones, the court distinguished White v. Jones on the basis that in the present case, the Estate will have suffered a loss if there was negligence on the part of the lawyer and that the Estate ought to have been enhanced by the half-share of the property which would have resulted from severance. Lloyd J. then considered that the case would be subject to the double recovery objection: namely, if the Plaintiff has a cause of action on the basis that the lawyer was negligent in her advice to the Testatrix, so would the personal representatives. The benefit of such a claim would not thereby go to the Plaintiff but to the residuary beneficiary. He then went on to state it seems to me unacceptable that solicitors should be at risk of two separate claims for identical loss at the suit both of the personal representatives and a beneficiary, when recovery by one would not bar recovery by the other. He then held that a solicitor does not owe a separate duty to a person in the position of the Plaintiff in a case such as this. From a practice perspective, it is informative to note that Lloyd J. was of the view that even if there were such a duty, the Plaintiff would not have established a breach of that duty. He agreed the lawyer had correctly drawn the Testatrix s attention to the desirability of getting the deeds and offered to take the necessary steps, but the Testatrix decided to do it herself. Lloyd J. also took comfort in the fact that the Testatrix decided to execute her Will at once rather than wait until the title to the property was established.16 16 As far as the practice of the lawyer was concerned, Lloyd J. considered the failure of the lawyer to take steps after execution of the Will to determine ownership of the property, even though the Testatrix decided that she would obtain the deeds. He stated that at most, she might after awhile, have sent a reminder letter to the deceased to remind her that this was still an outstanding point. However, he decided that the failure of the lawyer to send a reminder letter is something which no reasonably competent solicitor could have done in a situation where the deceased...decided to retain the initiative herself as regards obtaining the Deeds 'and he held that the lawyer 'acted in an entirely reasonable and proper way. The judge was also of the view that the failure by the solicitor to suggest an immediate notice of severance be sent without determining ownership by reviewing the deeds was something which no reasonably competent solicitor could have done in 1989". Practitioners may derive comfort from this decision as it appears to limit the developing responsibility of solicitors to beneficiaries in two ways: first, by supporting the double recovery objection, and second, by confirming that as solicitors, we are entitled to respect decisions of our clients, i.e. the Testatrix wishing to obtain the deeds herself. Nonetheless, lawyers should be cautioned by the care exhibited by the lawyer in keeping careful notes and by the suggestion of Lloyd J. that the lawyer might have sent a reminder letter to the deceased to remind her that the matter of the deeds was an outstanding point. This view, releasing the solicitor of the obligation to serve a notice of severance, was short-lived as the Frearsons case was overturned on appeal to the Court of Appeal in 1998, 8 and leave to appeal to the House of Lords was refused. The Court of Appeal clarified the Lower Court finding that there was no reason to suppose that there was a particular urgency by stating that it was necessary to bear in mind that the Testatrix was 81 years of age when she made her Will in The fact that the solicitor completed the Will within a few days of receiving instructions was acknowledged by the court. However, the solicitor was criticized for allowing execution of the Will when the manner of17 17 holding title to the property was unknown. Lord Justice Chadwick decided nothing could be gained by waiting to see what the position was in the deeds. He stated that:...a competent solicitor, acting reasonably, would have advised the Testatrix that, in order to be sure her testamentary wishes should have effect, she should serve a notice of severance in conjunction with the execution of the will. Lord Justice Chadwick made no reference to the possibility that the Testatrix may have had good reason for not wishing to serve a notice of severance. That was not unreasonable in the circumstances as there does not appear to be any evidence of that before Lord Justice Chadwick. Is it not therefore reasonable to interpret Lord Justice Chadwick s comments to the effect that, as solicitors, we must meet a standard of care which requires us to advise our clients as to alternatives and risk so that our clients may make informed decisions? Rather than a letter reminding the Testatrix to check the deeds, a letter, for example, confirming instructions of the Testatrix not to serve a notice of severance for whatever reason or confirming instructions to serve a notice of severance might have sufficed. The taking of instructions to prepare a Will and the actions or restrictions on actions emanating from instructions can be a potential minefield for solicitors. The final English case of Walker v. Medlicott and Son 9 is illustrative of this point. WALKER V. MEDLICOTT AND SON (A Firm) This is a Court of Appeal decision which once again dealt with a claim in negligence by a disappointed beneficiary against a solicitor. The facts of the case were as follows: On April 4, 1986, the Testatrix, a woman in her 70's presented herself without an appointment at a solicitor s office and met with Mr. Medlicott.! She brought with her a note of her wishes in her own handwriting.! Mr. Medlicott interviewed her for eighteen minutes (his note) and made a handwritten attendance note of her instructions. He kept both notes in his file.! The Testatrix s intentions as reflected in her note differed in six instances from her instructions as reflected in Mr. Medlicott s notes. In particular, a nephew, Mr. 8 Carr-Glynn v. Frearsons [1998] 4 AER Walker v. Medlicott and Son (A firm) E.W.J.18 18 Walker, received 1/6th of the residue rather than a specific bequest of her home which was her original intention as reflected in her note.! Mr. Medlicott drew the Will that evening in accordance with his notes from the meeting with the Testatrix.! The draft Will was forwarded to the Testatrix on April 8 th with a covering letter in which the lawyer requested that the Testatrix read this through.! On April 9 th, after a four-minute interview at Mr. Medlicott s office, the Testatrix executed the Will while Mr. Walker waited outside in a car - a fact of which the lawyer was unaware.! Mr. Walker s evidence and evidence of other family members was that the Testatrix reported to Mr. Walker and other family members after signing the Will that she had left the house to her nephew, Mr. Walker. Other family members testified it was the habit of the Testatrix to joke about the contents of her Will. Mr. Walker claimed that Mr. Medlicott, contrary to the Testatrix s instructions, had negligently failed to include in the Will a specific devise of the house in favour of Mr. Walker. The Court of Appeal supported the weight given to the evidence of Mr. Medlicott by the trial judge as follows: $ the experience of Mr. Medlicott - 20 years in practice with 40 Wills drawn in the seven months immediately before the Will in question and 700 Wills drawn since drawing the Will in question; $ his habitual practice in making attendance notes; $ his usual routine when clients would bring in their own notes: namely, a review to ensure the client s notes represented the client s uninfluenced wishes, to clarify any ambiguity, placing the points in the same order as they would be dealt with in the Will and ensuring the client fully understood the effect of the notes; $ to avoid the risk of muddle, his own notes would reflect only final instructions and not the discussion itself. The Plaintiff s submission that an eighteen-minute interview to take instructions was not enough time for instructions to have been accomplished carefully and accurately was rejected19 19 by the Court of Appeal. The court held that Mr. Walker did not prove by convincing evidence on a balance of probabilities that Mr. Medlicott failed to carry out the instructions of the Testatrix to leave a gift of the house to Mr. Walker. The lessons for practice are obvious - habitual, routine practice, retention of materials (notes) and careful note-taking are a must to overcome lack of recollection of specific events by the lawyer and accusation by the disappointed beneficiary. THE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE Although there do not appear to be any reported cases in Ontario which have dealt with a claim by third party beneficiaries, there are two important cases, one in British Columbia and the other in Saskatchewan which deal with the issue of a solicitor s responsibility to a beneficiary. Both cases considered the English authorities, and in particular, White v. Jones referred to earlier in this paper. The first case Smolinski v. Mitchell 10, a British Columbia Supreme Court case, was decided on August 16 th, 1995 and the second case, Hickson v. Wilhelm, 11 a decision of the Saskatchewan Queen s, Bench was decided on September 26 th, SMOLINSKI V. MITCHELL This was an action for negligence against a lawyer who, in 1988, had prepared a Will for the Testator which included a residue clause directing that the distribution of the Estate would be determined at a later date. It was not until some three years later that the Testator who was then in poor health contacted the lawyer to discuss his testamentary wishes. When the lawyer attended on the Testator in 10 Smolinski v. Mitchell (1995) 10 B.C.L.R. (3d) 366, 1995, 8 E.T.R. (2d) Hickson v. Wilhelm (2000) 31 E.T.R. (2d) 19320 20 hospital he learned that, among other things, the Testator wished to give the lawyer his house and car. The lawyer agreed to draft the Will but he refused to do anything further. He delivered the new Will to the Testator at the hospital two days later and advised the Testator to obtain independent legal advice and complete the execution of the Will elsewhere. The facts of the case illustrate that the lawyer was unaware that the Testator was terminally ill and he left it to the Testator to arrange an appointment with another lawyer for independent legal advice and to sign the Will. Although the Testator was discharged from hospital one day after receiving the Will, he was admitted to hospital one week later and died within two days of having been readmitted, without having signed the Will. The residue of the Estate was therefore distributed on intestacy among the Testator s aunts and uncles. The Plaintiff, who was the Testator s cousin, was to have received all of the Testator s cash in the unsigned Will. He sued the lawyer in negligence arguing that the Defendant owed him, as a disappointed beneficiary, a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that the new Will was signed in a timely fashion. In this case, the nature of the retainer between the solicitor and the Testator was considered from two perspectives. First, Sigurdson J. specifically noted that upon receiving instructions to include in the Will a gift to him, the lawyer immediately made it clear to the Testator that he required independent legal advice and that the lawyer would not participate in the execution of the Will. He did not agree or accept as part of his retainer attending either promptly or properly to the execution of the Will. Second, Sigurdson, J. decided that any circumstances calling for the lawyer to attend to the immediate or expeditious View more
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