The Court of Appeal has held that agreements governed by Greek law had not been negligently drafted by an English law firm, and that any loss suffered by the appellant was not attributable to the drafting.
The appellant had invested in solar energy projects in Greece using an agent to find suitable local partners. The respondent solicitors drafted relevant agreements with the agent and a Greek partner. The projects failed. The solicitors sued the appellant for their unpaid fees, who counterclaimed alleging negligence in the solicitors’ drafting of the agreements by failing to advise that the vehicles used for making the necessary applications to the Greek authorities should be limited liability companies rather than partnerships (which in the event were used). In particular, the appellant alleged that the solicitors had been negligent in failing to advise him to secure the necessary control over the Greek partner by purchasing a small shareholding in the partnerships. The partner had demanded more money from the appellant for not selling the partnerships, which the appellant held that he had paid under duress. The appellant argued that lack of control over the partner (being the fault of the solicitors) resulted in significant losses.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding as follows:
Watson Farley and Williams (a firm) v Ostrovizky [2015] EWCA Civ 457, 12 May 2015