CASE COSTS £7 A MINUTE
FAMOUS CONTRACTORS SETTLE £500,000 ACTION. large fees for lawyers. LONDON, January 12. After a hearing winch lasted fortytwo days an<T cost £7 a minute, the famous lawsuit brought by Messrs John Aird and Co., the contractors, against the Tandjong Pagar Dock Board, of Singapore, has been settled by agreement among the parties. _ r During the proceeding# before Mr Justice Parker in the Chancery Dmsion, documents that in their total bulk weighed half a ton were brought into court by the two parties. The sum in dispute was £300,000, Messrs John Aird and 00., who hod undertaken a contract for the construction of a dock at Singapore at a cost of £1,000,000 for the Tafidjong Pagar Dock Board, claimed damages for misrepresentation witii regard to the nature of the material that had to be excavated in making the trenches. Mr Upjohn, K..C., whose opening statement occupied four days, called twenty-four witnesses, and some of these asserted that those workmen who did not contract fever developed some form of skin disease; that the frogs made a noise “ like a motor-’bus in Fleet street ”; that the timber fell in, and that if a man slipped off he disappeared unless somebody chanced to bo near to pull him out, and that then he left hi« big hoots behind him. The Dock Board denied tho allegations of misrepresentation, and further said that they had suffered a loss of a million through Messrs Aird not carrying out tho contract. Mr Justice Parker came to the conclusion that there had been a blunder through carelessness, but no intention to deceive, and ho reserved judgment on minor points. In consequence, however, ol the agreement between the parties, he will not have to deliver his reserved judgment. .Five K-C.’s and a largo number of juniors were briefed, and the fees and “refreshers” are said to -hare run into five figures. Tho leader on on© side received 2500 guineas on his brief, and tho leader on the other 2000 guineas, each getting a “ refresher ” of £IOO a day. In the fees paid, the mass of documents, and time occupied, this case beats the famous Wyler y. Lewis action in tho King’s Bench Division, which lasted thirty-five days and was known as the “everlasting case.” It is rather unusual for parties to leave tho settlement of an action till tbe. judge has given his opinion on tho “facts” and reserved his opinion on tho law.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8360, 21 February 1913, Page 11
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409CASE COSTS £7 A MINUTE New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8360, 21 February 1913, Page 11
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