Judgment—Reserved judgment—Delay

Court of Appeal, Civil Division, Lord Neuberger MR, Arden and Longmore LJJ, 21 Apr 2011

Delay in handing down judgment will not automatically render the judgment unsafe, but may affect whether the appeal court is prepared to interfere with findings of fact.

Richard Ascroft (instructed by Thrings LLP) for the claimant, Michelle Stevens-Hoare (instructed by Andrew Simpson) for the defendants.

The claimant was the father of the third defendant. The first two defendants were companies which the third defendant had established. The claim related to advances of £520,000 from the claimant to the companies between December 2002 and July 2003. The third defendant gave post-dated cheques as security. The claimant took possession of the property in August 2003. He issued proceedings in June 2005. The third defendant argued that the sums were made pursuant to an oral agreement between himself and the claimant to participate in a joint venture to acquire and develop a property. The monies were to be repaid out