Case Summaries

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Limitation

Lloyds Bank plc v Wojcik & anor; CA (Evans LJ, Wilson J) 19 Dec 1997.

A defendant who had not served a counterclaim or set-off with his original defence to particulars of claim might amend his defence by adding a set- off and counterclaim after the expiry of the limitation period.

Sebastian Neville-Clarke (D.J. Freeman) for the first defendant; Anthony Mann QC (Hammon Suddards) for the plaintiff.

Courts

Ager v Ager; CA (Simon Brown LJ, Hale J) 19 Dec 1997.

Where the Court of Appeal made an order for costs not to be enforced without leave of the court against a legally aided party, the party seeking to enforce the order should apply not to the Court of Appeal but to the court from whose order the appeal had been brought.

Simon Oliver (Dzimitrowicz York, Croydon) for the appellant; Matthew Rudd (Dolman & Pritchard, Cobham) for the respondent.

Conversion

MCC Proceeds Inc v Lehman Brothers International (Europe); CA (Hobhouse, Pill, Mummery LJJ) 19 Dec 1997.

A person was only entitled to sue in conversion if he had actual possession or the immediate legal right to possession of the goods at the time of the conversion. Accordingly, where a nominee agreement had created a trust of shares for the benefit of the plaintiff company, and the defendant was a bona fide purchaser for value of the legal estate in the shares from the trustee, without notice of any breach of trust or of any claim by the plaintiff, the plaintiff could not maintain an action in conversion against the defendant.

Patrick Neill QC, Murray Rosen QC, Paul Smith (Herbert Smith) for the plaintiff; Charles Aldous QC, Robert Hildyard QC (Freshfields) for the defendant.