Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
LIMITATION PERIODS IN TORT AND THE NEGLIGENT ADVISER—THE INJUSTICE CONTINUES
Bell v. Peter Browne & Co.
Lee v. Thompson
In two recent decisions the Court of Appeal has again had to address the question when a cause of action accrues in relation to negligence by a legal adviser in dealing with a client’s property affairs. In Bell v. Peter Browne & Co.1 and Lee v. Thompson,2 their Lordships unanimously denied that loss is only suffered upon the occurrence of a contingency against which it was intended to guard, ruling that actionable damage occurs when the plaintiff is first exposed to contingent liability for future loss.
In Bell, a solicitor acting for the plaintiff husband in divorce proceedings negligently failed to protect his client’s equitable interest in the proceeds of the sale of
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