Reeve v Palmer (1858) 5 CBNS 84
Citation:Reeve v Palmer (1858) 5 CBNS 84
Rule of thumb:What happens if a lawyer loses a document/deed entrusted to them? It is professional negligence – lawyers have a file management duty to ensure that files are managed properly & that documents/deeds are not lost.
Judgment:
‘The jury have found that he lost it: and I am of opinion that that must be taken to mean, in the absence of any explanation, that he lost it for want of that due and proper care, which it was his duty to apply to the keeping of it, unless it is qualified by circumstances shewing that the loss of the deed could not have been prevented by the application of ordinary care’, Cockburn CJ AT 90
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.