Penny Bygrave & Michael Twomey examine instances of potential liability
In Cramaso LLP v Ogilvie- Grant, Earl of Seafield (Scotland) [2014] UKSC 9, [2014] 2 All ER 270 Sandy Lewis, an employee and chief executive of the defendant trust, caused an e-mail to be delivered to Alistair Erskine referring to a moor’s estimated grouse population. The e-mail contained implied false statements of fact that amounted to misrepresentations; the figures were extrapolated from counts relating to certain parts of the moor and were not representative of the moor as a whole. The Scottish lower court did not find fraudulent misrepresentation. Erskine subsequently decided to use a new limited liability partnership to enter into a lease of the moor. Discussions continued between Lewis and Erskine, who was then acting as agent of the LLP. Some weeks after the e-mail, the lease was eventually signed on behalf of the trust and the LLP.
In the Scottish Court of Session, the Lord Ordinary, Lord Hodge, found that Erskine was the directing mind and will
