The applicant was a practising advocate who sought to recover fees of nearly R500 000 from the Legal Practitioner’s Fidelity Fund Board of Control where the money due to the advocate had been held in trust by the attorney and misappropriated.  The court found that the money entrusted to the attorney by the clients was held by the attorney on behalf of the client and the client had no obligation towards counsel who could therefore not…

In a dispute between the parties as to whether the applicant was a partner in a partnership with the respondent, the court gave the applicant access to the annual financial statements of the close corporation that had arisen out of the transactions of the alleged partnership. The court found that an applicant under section 50 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 only has to make out a prima facie (even if open…

The court refused to order the return of goods by a spoliation order because the respondent was not in possession of the goods. The claimant gave his motor vehicle to a dealer for a routine maintenance service.  When he went to collect the vehicle he discovered that the keys to the vehicle had been handed over to the representative of an entity that claimed to own it.  The dealer subsequently gave possession of the vehicle…

The problem facing departments of health around the country is how to improve service delivery to the public and the quality of medical care provided to patients and so significantly reduce the number and quantum of medico-legal claims. Instead of funding healthcare programmes and facilities, a large portion of the annual budgets is allocated to medico-legal liabilities. Read more: Medical Brief printed our write up about this topic HERE.…

The Supreme Court of Appeal in an April 2021 judgment dealt with the interpretation and  application of a fraud clause found in the policy.. The clause read: “If you, or anyone acting on your behalf submits a claim, or any information or documentation relating to a claim, that is in any way fraudulent, dishonest or inflated, we will reject the entire claim and cancel your policy retrospectively, from the date on which the incident has…

The United Kingdom High Court in the judgment of 13 April 2021 granted the excess reinsurer’s UK interim anti-suit injunction in respect of the insurer/defendants’ claims in South Africa under the excess reinsurance agreements.  Those claims in the English courts to the exclusion of the South African courts will represent the bulk of the defendants’ claims for an indemnity.  The order does not apply to claims in South Africa under the primary reinsurances. It was…

The increase in documentation fraud which has adversely impacted financial institutions operating within the trade finance space is an unwanted development that blockchain technology can mitigate. The types of lending most frequently seen in the trade financing space, including letters of credit, revolving credit facilities as well as guarantees have proven susceptible to fraud. An example of this is where an unscrupulous trader approaches a financier for funding based on the value of the stock/inventory…