This summer has seen several more reported cases where the courts have demonstrated reluctance to allow commercially sophisticated clients to treat their lawyers – and their insurers – as carriers of their business risks by blaming them when a transaction does not prosper as intended.
In June, Justice Rimer found in The Football League v Edge Ellison and Others [2006], that the Football League was responsible for its commercial decision not to seek parent company guarantees when contracting with ONdigital. Whatever the technical breaches of duty by solicitors, the League would have concluded the same deal with ONdigital and been in the same position on its sub-sequent collapse in any event.
