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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Suggitt v Suggitt & Anor [2012] EWCA Civ 1140 (19 June 2012) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1140.html Cite as: [2012] EWCA Civ 1140 |
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ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT (CHANCERY DIVISION)
LEEDS DISTRICT REGISTRY
(HIS HONOUR JUDGE KAYE QC)
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
LADY JUSTICE ARDEN
- and -
LORD JUSTICE SULLIVAN
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SUGGITT |
Applicant |
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- and - |
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SUGGITT & ANOTHER |
Respondents |
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Ms Penelope Reed QC (instructed by Gordons Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Respondents.
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Crown Copyright ©
Lady Justice Arden:
"AND I EXPRESS THE WISH (without imposing a trust) that if at any time my son John Michael Suggitt shall in the absolute opinion of Caroline show himself capable of working on and managing my farmland she shall transfer my farmland to him."
Caroline has not sought to exercise that power, though of course there is nothing to prevent her from doing so at any time. By his will, Frank appointed Caroline and the second respondent to this appeal as his executors.
"By the time he left the college (after attending the following year) in 1999, John was helping his father with the harvest and sale of grain. In his evidence John was apt to grumble and complain that his father gave him nothing: no wage, no share, nothing. He seemed entirely to overlook the fact that his father paid everything for him: his food, board, lodging, college fees, living expenses and gave him a share of the grain harvest (the sweepings or left overs was how John characterised or implied it but it amounted to about £4,700 odd paid to John) and of the sheep sales (from which he received about £5,000). In addition John was permitted to set up and run his own herd of beef cattle on the farm and benefitted from the profits (some £12,000 over 2001/2002). The total John benefitted is a matter of some dispute and he himself was slow in forthcoming with the figures or any kind of accounts."
"…a repeated promise or assurance to John that led him reasonably to expect that some day at least, the farm land and by implication, if not expressly, somewhere to live would definitely be his following Frank's death."
"Thus while I can well understand why Caroline has advanced a case (based, as she fairly accepted, largely on the will) that the promise made by Frank was conditional, I do not so find. John was a disappointment to his father: he had not made as much of the 50 acres as he had no doubt hoped between 1997-2002, he had not done as well at Agricultural College as he hoped, he had effectively run away to York and spent his inheritance, but his promises and assurances to his son, as a loving father, were unconditional."
"57. Again I regard John's case and evidence in support as weak. But enough is enough. I accept John worked from time to time for no direct wage, I accept he returned to the farm after his break at York (when the money ran out) but this is a man who into adulthood was being fed, watered, and housed by his father free of charge; he received substantial sums of money from family trusts (most it is fair to point out after Frank's death), he received the proceeds from some of the sales of sheep, grain and cattle (above), and supplemented his income by working in the sports shop and pub. John constantly tried to portray himself as someone who had been doing a great deal for nothing for many years. I do not accept that. I do accept he was paid no wage, but that was how it was done and expected to be done in the family. It was the quid pro quo (which is why I accept that there was some reliance). John did not work for nothing, but he did not work for as much as he might have expected had he been an agricultural worker. On the other hand as an agricultural worker he would have had his own living expenses.
"Reliance and detriment are often the same or overlapping concepts in this area. In my judgment it can be fairly said that John acted in some measure to his detriment or changed his position in reliance on the promises made by his father and in the expectation he would inherit even after his break with his father when he left for York. Both before and after his 9 months in York he at least did some work on the farm, he agreed to go to college to learn necessary skills, he helped with the sheep and grain and built up a beef herd. But all in all it was nothing like the sort of work done in Thorner v Major. John's problem is he wants the maximum for the minimum. The work he did was barely, vaguely and weakly particularised: after his return from York he worked on Witherholm and the outbuildings - this seems to have been some stripping of wallpaper, clearing rubbish, gutters and work in the garden when he was supposed to be off work sick. He mended fences (almost certainly those round his own 50 acres in the period 1997-2002), cut grass and maintained some machinery. He developed, with his father's encouragement, the livery and poultry and other related activities on the acreage recovered by his father from the Conings, Gemma moved in and lived with him at Wellfield on which John also did work. The profits made went back in one form or another into the business. On the other hand, as Miss Toman's helpful analysis showed, John had also benefitted much more than he attempted to portray, from working for the Teasdale's, from grain sales, from sheep sales and from beef cattle sales. Nevertheless, save for the break in York, it is, in my judgment, fair to say, as does Miss Reed, that John positioned his whole life on the basis of the assurances given to him and reasonably believed by him."
"In my judgment what Frank had in mind was much as his actions dictated: his will had specified the farm land (not the houses), but he also must have known John needed somewhere to live. In 1997 that was Penank, a bungalow tied by its agricultural restriction to the land so at least in 1997 he might reasonably have contemplated John continuing to live there. Later, with adulthood and a new partner, Gemma and children that clearly became no longer possible. But the broad thrust of the promise was reasonably clear: the farmland and (by implication) somewhere to live."
"There must be sufficient causal link between the assurance relied upon and the detriment asserted. The issue of detriment must be judged at the moment when the person who had been given the assurance seeks to go back on it. Whether the detriment is sufficiently substantial is to be tested by whether it would be unjust or inequitable to allow the assurance to be disregarded – that is, again, the essential test is one of unconscionability."
"…positioned his whole life on the basis of the assurances given to him and which were reasonably believed by him."
I have no doubt the judge carefully considered his words.
"[John] positioned his whole life on the basis of the assurances given to him and which were reasonably believed by him.
"50. To recapitulate: there is a category of case in which the benefactor and the claimant have reached a mutual understanding which is in reasonably clear terms but does not amount to a contract. I have already referred to the typical case of a carer who has the expectation of coming into the benefactor's house, either outright or for life. In such a case the court's natural response is to fulfil the claimant's expectations. But if the claimant's expectations are uncertain, or extravagant, or out of all proportion to the detriment which the claimant has suffered, the court can and should recognise that the claimant's equity should be satisfied in another (and generally more limited) way."
"Frank did not want John to be homeless." (Judgment paragraph 56).
"In my judgment John should have the farm land (subject to the arrangements as regards to the Conings) and a house in which to live. I am inclined to think that this should be Wellfield where he and his family now live. I do not consider he should be entitled to the money in the business accounts or other assets beyond what might be regarded as incidental farm machinery but should also include farm outbuildings incidental to the farming activities and insofar as they can be regarded as separate structures from farm houses (the intent being the houses can be separated from the outbuildings)."
Lord Justice Sullivan:
Sir Nicholas Wall:
Order: Appeal dismissed, applications refused.