‘Drop hands’ offer

Fulham Leisure Holdings Ltd v Nicholson Graham & Jones [2006] EWHC 2428 (Ch)

The defendant was the claimant’s solicitors in a transaction involving the purchase of Fulham Football Club arising out of which the claimant alleged professional negligence by the defendant, being the alleged costs of buying in a right which had been negligently omitted from the documentation. The defendant contested both liability and quantum. The defendant had made an offer ‘without prejudice save as to costs’, to ‘drop hands’ which was not accepted by the claimant. The defendant then paid the sum of £500,000 into court, which again was not accepted. The court found that the defendant had been negligent but was not liable for any of the loss claimed. There was an additional claim for some £100,000 in respect of professional fees allegedly incurred in remedying the negligence for which the court awarded the claimant £6,750. Accordingly, the claimant had not beaten the payment into court.