A COSTLY LAWSUIT ENDED

Evening Star, Issue 14535, 10 December 1910, Page 12

A COSTLY LAWSUIT ENDED

The most expensive lawsuit on record came io an cod this wed;, when the House of Lords dismissed the appeal in the case of Wyler and others v. Lewis and others. The action, was brought by Mr lsidor Wyler and t'Ao lbo and Nysissa. LorpoiaXion, the dciend•ants included Messrs Lewis and Marks, financiers, and the property in tLsput© consisted of immense concessions in I'ortuguest South Africa. The dispute comnunecd twenty years ago, and twenty lawsuits were foug'ht m this country -and in Portugal before the present case came into the courts in 190ti. i\. Divisional Court jury awarded Mr Wyler £67,472 damages—a record sum. This verdict was reversed by the Court of Appeal, and the House of Lords also decided against Mr Wyler yesterday. 'i'ho time occupied by the case has been as follows: —Divisional Court, 33 days; Court of Appeal, 13 days; House of Lords, 6 days; total, 57 days. The cost of the ca.se is even more remarkable than its lengtii. Nearly £200.000 ha* been spent on the all'air from the beginning, and tlie costs of ihe sun. just eiiucti a.. estimated to total not loss than £:K.i,iiiK), oi wiiich counsel engaged in ihe case have received about, ha.r. 'l'he " particulars *' of Ihe cisc filled eleven large printed volumes, the correspondence rend covered 11,000 foolscap pa<j;cs, over 2.00i1,1i0(j words were, spoken in cuunociion wilh the passages of the ea.se through the Divisional Court, counsel's opening speech running io 285.000 words, Sir K. ('•arson .speaking tor nearly eight days. Mr Upjohn's speech in the House. <if Ixirds covered tluve days, and Mr .iusb.ee I'uiil.iDijre in the Divisional Court mat!..? a ihroc-il:iy.s' speech also. Mr Wyler spent eleven days in the witness box, and four days woib <«-e..pied in voading the correspondence. 'flier; lias only been one longer case heard in l.ngland—t<"i wit, Ihe Tiehbomc civil case, which lasted 103 days—but there has ixver been such a costly case as Wyler v. Lewis. The nearest approach to it was the Parnell Commission, which cost about £40,000. Other lengthy and costly cases which conic to mind are the Belt v." Lawes libel case, which lasted forty-three days, and cost nearly £20,000: the Lang-ford ease, which occupied twenty-three days; ihe Hoolev case, which ran twenty-one days; Dr .lamcson's trial, which cost between £14,000 and £15,000; and Jabez Balfour's trial, upon which a similar amount was expended—London correspondent, October 28.