JUDGMENT UPHELD

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30529, 26 August 1964, Page 23

JUDGMENT UPHELD

Claim Against Solicitor

In a reserved decision in the Supreme Court yesterday Mr Justice Wilson dismissed the appeal of Robert Bruce Shand, a solicitor, of. Christchurch, against a magistrate’s decision of July 1 which awarded M. J. Atkinson, Ltd., a company in liquidation, £B2 17s 2d and costs. M. J. Atkinson, Ltd., went into voluntary liquidation on July 16, 1960, and Shand, who had been the company’s solicitor, had in his trust account £lOO 3s 6d to the company’s credit On July 17 Shand delivered bills of costs for professional services rendered before liquidation which amounted to £B2 17s 2d, and paid the remainder of the £lOO 3s 6d to the liquidator. Shand declined to pay the sum represented by his costs, claiming that he had a lien on the moneys in his trust account for such costs, or alternatively that he was entitled to set off such costs against the moneys he held. The company sued for the amount retained, and the magistrate upheld its right to the money. His Honour held that Shand's defence against the company’s claini, as far as it rested on the lien, could not be sustained. As for the defence of a set-off under the Bankruptcy Act, the evidence of the facts necessary to bring Shand’s costs within the ambit of the act was completely lacking, said his Honour. Mr D. H. Hicks appeared for Shand and Mr D. J. Clark for M. J. Atkinson, Ltd.