Professional Negligence Briefing – July 2019

Articles, Briefings, News | Thu 11th Jul, 2019

THE ILLEGALITY DEFENCE: BACK TO THE SUPREME COURT AGAIN

Illegality and the doctrine of “ex turpi causa non oritur acta” rival the issue of vicarious liability for the number of appellate level decisions they have generated in recent years. In Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42 the Supreme Court sat as a court of 9 in order to definitively deal with the issue of when illegal or immoral conduct might bar an otherwise good claim in tort or contract. The issue has not, however, gone away, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear another 4 cases which raise the issue. In this Briefing, Andrew Warnock QC summarises the Patel decision and the forthcoming appeals.

Professional Negligence Briefing July 2019