June 2009 Archives

                                                                                             A property fixer who claimed that, in the manner of Montgomery Brewster, he had lost a £400m fortune and could not therefore reach a divorce settlement with his wife has been threatened with jail by a Family Division judge.

Montgomery Brewster, as we all know, managed to spend $30m in 30 days in order to inherit $300m, but the High Court is having none of it and says that Scot Young has failed to provide details of his financial status and that unless he does so by September he can face a 6 month jail sentence for contempt of court.

I couldn't find a Brewster's Millions film still so I found this Richard Pryor stencil instead.

Read more at the Independent here.

Photo by Arty "Fucking" Smokes via Flickr.

A constitutional whoopee cushion looks set to be sat upon after their Lordships of the Supreme Court threatened to unseat the Honourables of Parliament as to who has the swankiest address.

In what [in my imagination] could develop into the mother of all neighbour disputes the Supreme Court wants to create 1 Parliament Square as its prestigious new address.

They have already chatted about it with the Royal Mail over tea and crumpets and apparently the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is muttering about how they want to be No 2 Parliament Square.

I am told [by no one] that most MPs feel that having constituents write to the House of Commons, London is a lot like having children writing to Santa Claus, Greenland and does not befit the new mood inspired by the wonderful Hazel Blears of reconnecting with "the grass roots" and "the British people".

So come on MPs dont let the scoundrels put one over on you, pull your finger out and reclaim your rightful position, this is a matter of national importance - imagine the huge impetus this would give to the headed note paper industry. 

Photo by Rob Young via Flickr.

A test case on whether Registered Social Landlords are public bodies and therefore susceptible to judicial review is on course for the House of Lords [or the Supreme Court at Middlesex Guildhall by the time it gets there].

Earlier this month the Court of Appeal, by a majority, ruled that RSLs were so susceptible in the case of R (Weaver) v London & Quadrant Housing Trust [2009] EWCA Civ 587.

London & Quadrant has reportedly said it will appeal the decision, with some of London's largest RSL's potentially backing them. 

See the Inside Housing story here.

The EG law report of the Court of Appeal decision here.

And Nearly Legal's coverage here.

Photo by Adrian Pingstone.

Legal hog visited the winding up court again on Wednesday to report on the ongoing problems for Howard Holdings after its Olympics-inspired £135m leisure scheme in Weymouth failed to materialise.

The Irish investor and developer has just three weeks to pay its debts to creditors or it will be wound up.

High Court Registrar Christine Derrett, adjourning a winding-up petition against the firm, said: "Clearly, this company at the moment is wholly insolvent. I have had to exercise considerable forbearance not to make an order today."

Howard Holdings is being chased by five creditors, including agent Jones Lang LaSalle, architect Barlow Henley and civil engineer Fenton Holloway, seeking the settlement of allegedly outstanding bills totalling more than £1.2m.

NB I was going to feature a beautiful picture of the planned development but I couldnt work out how to imbed it, so I went from this tasty picture of a Weymouth ice cream instead.

Photo by Adrian Boliston via Flickr.

  Apart for our legal hog's visit to the trough that is the winding up court, our Practice & Law section has many page-turning features this Saturday.

Amongst others, we have Lucian Cook of Savills, on the need for close scrutiny by those seeking to extend residential leaseholds in the light of the outlook for house prices and the cost of enfranchisement, and Steven McNab, Romola Parish, Pippa Heggie and James Bingham of Travers Smith, giving an overview of the penalties for environmental and health and safety offences following a raft of new legislation.

Bored with searching for property-related stories I spied a number of interesting cases filed in the Queen's Bench Division (libel central).

Someone called Peter Andre is suing MGN Ltd (the publisher of the Mirror), while News Group has collected suits from both Lily Allen and Senior Met Officer Ali Dizaei.

Meanwhile, the ever entertaining RollonFriday is being sued by a disgruntled former solicitor who will remain nameless.

Photo by KProlingheur via Flickr. 

The Landlord Law Blog has some advice for landlords letting to students and the tenancy deposit scheme.

Roger, a Landlord Law member, was advised that it would be acceptable to take a sum from the student tenants, eg equating to the first months rent, inform them that this is a 'non returnable holding sum', and not take the deposit until the students' parents return the Guarantee. At this point the Tenancy Agreement can be finalised with the holding sum covering the first month's rent, the further sum paid at that time being used for the deposit.

Read the Landlord Law Blog here.

Photo by Xavier Caballe via Flickr.

The Tolerated Trespasser is to make a return to the House of Lords.

Leave to appeal has been given by the Law Lords in Austin v Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Southwark.

In Austin the Court of Appeal held that relatives of tolerated trespassers who live in the same property do not have the right to apply for a secure tenancy after the trespasser dies.

The EG report of the Court of Appeal decision is here.

If anyone doesn't subscribe to EG then have a look at Nearly Legal's analysis here or comment on my blog and I will send you an electronic copy of the law report.

Photo by Mike Chernucha via Flickr.

I have to back the crie de coeur of James Brewster, editor of Strand News.

One of the mainstays of reporting from the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand News has written to all regional press pointing out that it is about to go under.

James, who like former court reporter Charles Dickens hopes to be stuffed on death [see left], says: "We report on the doings of the high judiciary, one of the three estates of government, and we believe that our role is one of constitutional, as well as commercial, importance. If we were to disappear, we think that a very substantial hole would be left in the news coverage of almost every media outlet in the country."

Brewster goes on to urge editors to use the service and pay promptly. "It would only take a little goodwill and a modest increase in our income to save us."

As Estates Gazette's legal news hog, I frequent the RCJ's dark passages on a daily basis and completely back James' call for more cash - only I would prefer a more immodest increase, gimme gimme gimme.

Photo by Rich Bowen via Flickr.

Zaha Hadid's plans for a spaceship in Seville's Prado de San Sebastian have been derailed by the Andalusian High Court.

A neighbourhood association has succeeded in getting an order for the cessation of work on Hadid's adventurous design for a £4m spaceship [okay "library"] for Seville University.

Apparently there are concerns that the 86,114 sq ft spaceship would encroach on the Prado de San Sebastian recreation area that Sevillanos apparently use to escape the Summer heat.

I don't know what all the fuss is about, when I went to Seville one Summer most Sevillanos seemed to have left for the coast anyway, and those that hadn't spent most of the day snoozing, those lazy Sevillanos!

The Times story is here.

Photo by icelight via Flickr.

A group of Essex travellers were in the High Court yesterday fighting an attempt by Brentwood Borough Council to issue a stop notice to halt development on a three-acre greenbelt site in Blackmore [See pic for view of Blackmore Churchyard].

The High Court was told the travellers had engaged in a "deliberate and criminal" breach of planning control after they bought the land and began laying down concrete on the site over the Easter bank holiday weekend. 

But, Mr Justice Stadlen said he had to take into account the effect eviction would have on the families and whether there was a legal site for them to move on to.

Unfortunately, because there have been so many traveller cases in the High Court, I have started ignoring them, but that is difficult to do when you try to balance the effect of these cases on the integrity of the planning system as against the right to a family life and respect for the way of life of travellers. 

See the BBC broadcast here.

Photo by Nick Robinson via Flickr.

On Friday, Yvonne and Tina of EG's Professional and Legal team picked up the Legal Journals award at the British & Irish Association of Law Librarians annual dinner [As you can see from the photo the award is surprisingly militaristic ;)].

Well done us.

Photo by Kevin Dooley via Flickr.

With thanks to The Onion

PHOENIX--Years of controversy were finally settled Monday after DNA tests conclusively proved that Duane Panovich, an attraction at the Phoenix Zoo for the past 11 years, was indeed a human being, and not a reticulated giraffe from southwestern Kenya.

"This is truly a day of jubilation and vindication," said Panovich's attorney, Frank Hablis, who successfully argued in a federal court in June that the zoo should permit a DNA test to determine whether Panovich was genetically closer to a Homo sapiens or a Giraffa camelopardalis.

"We're deeply grateful that science has advanced enough over the years to finally uncover the truth and clear his name of the allegations of giraffehood that have been such a burden to him and his family."

Shortly after the findings were revealed, Phoenix Zoo staff tranquilized, crated, and transported Panovich by helicopter to his Mesa, AZ home, where he was released into his front yard and reintroduced to his mate and two young.

"It's good to finally be home, but more than anything I'm looking forward to wearing clothes again," a still-groggy Panovich told reporters as an oxpecker bird sat on his shoulder and fed on ticks.

Photo by Milk Fat via Flickr.

Yet again our legal correspondent has let us down [when I have been bad I like to speak in the third person] and failed miserably to report any news worthy of that tumescent organ Estates Gazette.

Fortunately not everyone else is as worthless, and Practice & Law have put in a good showing.

So we have Sam Szlezinger of Denton Wilde Sapte on competition issues resulting from acquisitions in the retail sector, Andrew Wilmott-Smith of Boodle Hatfield on insolvency transactions, and our lovely columnist Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC on the windfalls and pitfalls of unincorporated status.

Also included are a Q&A on fairness and tenancy agreement variations, discussion of the recent case of Hall v Moore on rights of common, and case summaries of Hanoman cv Southwark and Freeman v Islington LBC.

If anyone does not subscribe to EG but is interested in any of the above, then leave a comment and I will try and e-mail more details.

With both the legislature and the executive taking up permanent residency in the dog house over expenses it is good to see that the judiciary know how to take care of the pennies.

While the new Supreme Court has an estimated set-up cost of £56.9m it appears that their Lordships are trying to make a saving on furniture.

Walking through the West Green Building of the RCJ I noticed several benches that had previously been dotted around the RCJ with notices on them reading "Supreme Court No 1 - Balcony".

If the furniture had been left in the Palace of Westminster the notes may have read differently - "The Right Honourable Jane Doe MP - conservatory"

Photo by Adrian Pingstone.

Lots happening in court today - so far I have written on London & Quadrant Housing Association losing its "public body" test case, Stansted campaigners failing in their bid to overturn the High Court defeat of their challenge to expansion plans, and a developer's attempt to get control of the Collins Theatre development in Islington, London N1.

Still to come are reports on the BARD campaigners application for permission to appeal the high court dismissal of their challenge to the government's eco-town policy, and a couple of judgements that have been languishing on my desk for the past couple of days.

If you dont have access to EGi, leave a comment and I will get you more information.

Buzz buzz buzz

Photo by Nicole Thomas via Flickr.

John Flood and Avis Whyte of the University of Westminster School of Law have just published an article derived from the research they did for the Bar Council on direct access to clients. It can be downloaded here.

The Bar has been a referral profession for many years and now it is attempting to reconfigure itself towards direct dealings with clients. This has a serious impact on the manner in which the Bar constitutes itself as a profession.

Here is a picture of John's Pekinese Mao looking very serious.

Photo by John Flood via Flickr.

There is a lot of discussion on Nearly Legal about a couple who have taken legal action after claiming motion sensors installed at their holiday flat in Dorset breached their rights as Orthodox Jews.

Gordon and Dena Coleman said they cannot leave or enter their Bournemouth flat on the Sabbath because the hallway sensors automatically switch on lights.

The couple's religious code bans lights and other electrical equipment being switched on during Jewish holidays.

They have now issued a county court writ claiming religious discrimination.

The blog discussion ended thus "On the more important topic of ginger and black cats, I live with one of each and can report that the local bird, mouse and frog populations probably do not think that either of them have particular symbolic resonance - they're just evil."

To find out how it got to that point check out Nearly Legal here.

The BBC story upon which this is all based can be found here.

Photo by Dominique Sanchez via Flickr

Two property-related claims against law firms have just caught my eye.

Linklaters is reportedly facing a £4.6m negligence claim from the All England Lawn Tennis Ground over advice the firm provided on the settlement of a previous claim over the design and build of the Millennium Building

Linklaters advised on the settlement of that claim, but the club now says the firm drafted the settlement in such a way that it could not pursue further damages should repair costs to the building be more than anticipated.

Meanwhile, Hammonds is embroiled in another partner dispute, this time with a former partner of failed conveyancing business Hammonds Direct.

Pub giant and real ale champion JD Wetherspoon has succeeded in winding up its former property agent Van de Berg & Co Ltd.

The order was made just two months after the pub giant won a multi-million pound damages claim against VdB and its director Christian Braun, who a judge found had committed fraudulent dishonest breaches of fiduciary duty owed to Wetherspoon across a number of pub transactions.

In April, Peter Smith J, after ruling in Wetherspoon's favour, ordered VdB to pay Wetherspoon interim damages of £4.9m and interim costs of £2.8m.

Photo by Ronald E via Flickr

Award winning anonymous blogger NightJack has been unmasked by the High Court today.

Detective Constable Richard Horton, who was awarded an Orwell Prize for political writing in April, is [or was] the author of NightJack, an anonymous blog offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse at front-line policing.

Horton, 45, had tried to obtain a High Court injunction to prevent The Times from naming him as the author of the blog in which he revealed confidential details about cases that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions.

Unfortunately the blog is no more so I cant give a link to it.

The judgment of Eady J can be read here.

Times online has further details about the blog and the ruling here.

Late addition: Read Charon QC's comment here.

Photo by FHKE via Flickr

As if homesellers didn't have enough to contend with, the Daily Mail reports on the story of a husband and wife who have pleaded guilty to conning sellers out of thousands of pounds by squatting in properties they had no intention of buying.

Richard Jerome, 62, and his wife Hazel, 64, allegedly pretended to live a luxury lifestyle with homes in Jamaica and Barbados so as to con sellers into renting their homes before squatting in the property

They made cash offers on properties with vacant possession before asking to rent the property while waiting for the sale to go through because they had already moved out of their previous home.

But the couple did not pay rent or utility bills and had no intention of ever buying the properties.

Photo by Bill Tyne via Flickr

"Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos"

No, that is not an evil incantation muttered by a would-be necromancer, but rather a 13th century latin maxim which can be translated to mean "he who owns the surface owns up to the heavens and down to hell".

The Court of Appeal have just given judgment in Bocardo v Star Energy, a trespass case which considered the extent land owners own the strata beneath their property.

So does Mohamed Al Fayed, who owns Bocardo and the Surrey estate under which Star Energy was drilling for oil, own up to heaven and down to hell?

Well, he doesnt own up to heaven and down to hell is open to debate.

But, even if he does own down to the centre of the earth the trespass by Star Energy did not affect the enjoyment of his land "one iota" and thus he could only be awarded £1000 in damages, rather than the £750,000 previously awarded by the High Court.

Read the judgment here.

The maxim was apparently coined by Franciscus Accursius of Bologna (1225-1293) an Italian lawyer who lectured in law at Oxford at the invitation of Edward I. Dante placed him in Hell (maybe Dante didnt get through the Oxford entrance interview either).

Photo by Antonio Carlos Castejón via Flickr

Rather than working on Friday I {in my capacity as legal hog for EG} attended Property Chef at Fire & Stone's munchie pizza place in Covent Garden.

I was drinking a cosmopolitan by 10am so I didn't do too much with the rest of the day - my floaty feelings were well grounded however by a healthy dose of early pizza.

A more fulsome rendition of what team EG got up to can be found on the Focus Blog here.

If you want to drool this early in the morning then take a look at Fire & Stone here.

The pizzas with an Australasian bent are highly recommended by me. I had the Canberra and the Sydney - oink oink.

Pictures can be viewed here.

Photo of flying pig by Ian Burt via Flickr

A poor showing again from our legal correspondent {me} in this week's EG magazine. The poor lamb {me again} is in a trough at the moment. Such are the vagaries of court life.

Indeed our legal correspondent was so busy on Friday {you can see from my other post what} that he didnt post his preview of Saturday's EG.

So here it is - posted on Monday. Two days after the magazine was published. What a service.

It is not all bad news however, as in the Practice & Law section of the mag we had two articles on service charges, one on the conflict between landlords and tenants over who pays for what, and one on the Loughborough Report 2008 - The Paradox of Service Charges.

Negligence and fraud, surrender by operation of law and the date of assessment for damages when a conveyancing contract is breached are just some of the other subjects covered.

Mr Perkins - If you look closely you can see the eyes.

From the Bristol Evening Post:

Outside Bristol Zoo is the car park, with spaces for 150 cars and 8 coaches. It has been manned 6 days a week for 23 years by the same charming and very polite car park attendant with the ticket machine.The charges are £1 per car and £5 per coach.

On Monday 1 June, he did not turn up for work. Bristol Zoo management phoned Bristol City Council to ask them to send a replacement parking attendant.

The Council said "That car park is your responsibility."The Zoo said "The attendant was employed by the City Council...wasn't he?" The Council said "What attendant?"

Gone missing from his home is a man who has been taking daily the car park fees amounting to about £400 per day for the last 23 years...!

Further to this amazing story...

Photo by Liam Higginson via Flickr

A judge has denied the Church of England the power to evict a priest who it claims is squatting in a vicarage.

At Birmingham county court yesterday, district judge Simon Bull adjourned the hearing after questioning whether the church had rights over the property.

"It may be of inconvenience to the claimants, but if there are squatters in my neighbours' garden and my neighbours are not around, I don't have the right to take possession," he said.

The Church were hoping to be granted the power to evict the priest, who was reportedly sacked from his position as vicar of the Church of the Good Shepherd with St John in West Bromwich after it was alleged that he had been involved in an extra-marital affair.

Read the full Guardian story here.

Photo by Hideyuki Kamon vis Flickr

Angry scenes at my desk this lunchtime as I found out that Criterion has bowed to pressure from the Crown and will be opening its own Cool Britannia souvenir store in Piccadilly, rather than a much anticipated branch of that fine retailer TK Maxx.

I am upset.

Check out the Angry Mob playset available at the Archie McPhee store here.

Photo by Archie McPhee via Flickr

Cherie Booth QC is reportedly spearheading a new scheme aimed at saving big companies millions of pounds in legal costs by settling disputes out of court

The Institute of Chartered Accountants has recruited 20 senior accountants and lawyers to mediate high-value disputes involving FTSE 250-level companies.

There are doubts over whether the scheme will succeed, but anything which might help stop the massive professional negligence timebomb which is likely to go off at some point in the property world has to be welcomed by the industry - admittedly not by journalists reporting on the awaited disputes.

Further details can be found in The Times article here.

  The world of James Bond, pyrotechnics, car crashes and Top Gear gung ho shennanigans have been put under the spotlight in the High Court today.

Owners of Dunsfold Park, an aerodrome and industrial estate near Guildford previously used for the filming of Casino Royale and Top Gear, are complaining that their application for permission to use part of the site for outdoor filming until 2018 has been refused by the local council and the Communities secretary.

A planning inspector said that the noise associated with pyrotechnics, helicopters and aircraft and "car action scenes" would be harmful and disturbing to local residents.

They say that conditions could have been imposed to prevent that from happening.

Photo by Andrew Kuznetsov via Flickr.

Barred yet again from Imerman v Tchenguiz in Court 13 [no I havent been "gagged" but "barred" didnt work as well in the headline].

Eady J was the judge. He also presided over the mildly more salacious case brought by Max Mosley against the News of the Screws over their story that he had taken part in a sado-masochistic sex session with five prostitutes.

There was an interesting article from the Sunday Times at the weekend, highlighted in Charon QC's blog, that talks about recent rulings of Eady J, the growth of "libel tourism" and a US backlash based on First Amendment Freedom of Speech rights.

Apparently lawmakers in several American states, including New York and Illinois, have moved to block the enforcement of British libel judgments in the United States.

The Sunday Times article is here.

Charon QC's comments on the article are here.

Photo by Clarence Risher via Flickr.

Not much from the court correspondent [me] in news this week unfortunately.

But in Practice and Law we have a discussion between consultant Simon Randall and Lawrence Graham partner Martin Stacey on the options available to local authorities to maximise their assets.

We also have an assessment by Denton Wilde Sapte PSL Anna Janik of the Companies Act 2006 which will be fully implemented by October, and a consideration by Bovill's Rebecca Thorpe and Neil thompson of the challenges ahead for sale and rent back schemes.

Here is the first one. It is nearly 15 minutes. Sorry, but this was my first attempt and I will get better.

I talk about: the recent decisions in Port of London Authority v Ashmore and JD Wetherspoon v Van De Berg & Co Ltd; the claim against DTZ filed by Lexi Holdings (in administration); the upcoming House of Lords hearing in London Transport v Spirerose; and the awaited judgment in OFT v Foxtons. 

If you do comment, please be kind [that includes rude comments about the photo - the ancient Greeks viewed large genitals as comical and bestial so they typically depicted heroic figures with very small equipment. Many sculptors have followed this tradition].

EGI Legal monthly round up

The Estates Gazette Podcast

Photo by Tinou Bao via Flickr

Estates Gazette has just won the law librarian equivalent of an Oscar - the British & Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) Legal Journals Award.

The diamond encrusted award along with a cheque for £1m will be presented to me at the BIALL Annual Dinner on Friday 19 June 2009 at the Midland Hotel in Manchester.

Did Judge John Bradshaw have a bulletproof beaver during the trial of Charles I - find out now.

Here is the Radio 4 podcast.

Great listening even if Geoffrey Robertson QC is not there.

Photo by Stevehdc via Flickr

Great news for legal history lovers.

Melvyn Bragge is discussing the Trial of Charles I on Radio 4 this morning.

I am a bit disappointed however as Geoffrey Robertson QC who wrote the brilliant Tyrannicide Brief about the trial is not a guest.

I will post a link to the podcast when it is available.

One of the questions posed is whether Judge John Bradshaw had a bulletproof beaver?

Photo by Janet McKnight via Flickr

Judges awaiting their fate on Monday

As of Monday, the Lands Tribunal has been replaced by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) as part of a major re-organisation of tribunals in England and Wales.

It is seen as the first step in a plan for world domination by Lord Justice Carnwath, as senior president of tribunals.

One of the main results of President Carnwath's new world order is that the Upper Tribunal can now "kidnap" High Court judges for particularly difficult or important cases [perhaps involving medical experimentation on former Cabinet ministers].

Full details of the actual changes can be found here.

Photo by Steve Punter via Flickr

As the whirlwind in its fury teareth up trees, and deformeth the face of nature, or as an earthquake in its convulsions overturneth whole cities; so the rage of an angry man throweth mischief around him. Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV): 1353 BC-1336 BC

I have just read a great story about a drunken estate agent who wrecked a £650,000 house his firm was selling.

After a heavy drinking session, trainee estate agent Joseph Young, 23, collected the keys to the £650,000 house from his office at Vickery & Co in Frimley so he and two friends could continue to party.

Once inside, Young and Bradley Conway, also 23, who was described as acting "like a raging bull", ripped out door frames and smashed chairs, statues and picture frames. They poured Tipp-Ex fluid over duvets and damaged a vintage car in the garage.

Conway then stole the keys to the owner's Skoda and took it for a drunken joyride with Young. They smashed the car into a tree near the four-bedroom property, writing it off.

Yesterday at Guildford Crown Court, Young pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage but was cleared of stealing the car keys and aggravated vehicle taking. Conway had already admitted all three offences.

The pair will be sentenced later.

Young had handed in his notice shortly before the incident on April 11 last year.

The full story can be read on the Mail website here.

Photo by Nevalenx via Flickr

Following on from my visit to the RCJ yesterday, City superwoman Nicola Horlick and her investment management boutique Bramdean Asset Management are suing Associated Newspapers, the company behind the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard and London Metro.

The claim, filed in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court so beloved of the allegedly defamed, has not yet been made public so no details are yet available.

So any speculation would be entirely without foundation, baseless, completely inaccurate, and lacking any integrity or veracity. In fact, any journalist suggesting what the case could be about without having any view of the papers or speaking to either party involved would have no credibility.

But in a recent Mail article concerning a disagreement between Horlick and property big shot Vincent Tchenguiz she was referred to as "Queen Kong" - which isn't a good thing.

Photo by Conway L via Flickr

While I didn't manage to get any more on the DTZ story (apart from a promise to defend the claim by DTZ) I did see some other promising claims filed that may develop into lurid court room battles if we wish very hard.

In the Queen's Bench Division the mysteriously-named claimant "The Author of a Blog" is suing Times Newspapers - the case is in private and no copies of the particulars are available, but with the blogosphere being so leaky surely its only a matter of time before someone spills the beans.

It also seems that a party planner is suing Pamela Anderson, aka Elizabeth Denver, aka Amanda Philips, who we can safely assume isn't the real Finnish American actress, sex symbol, glamour model, producer, author, activist, and former show girl beloved of teenage boys in the 90s.

NB I can not read Swedish so I hope the message to the left of the picture of the real Pamela Anderson does not say anything unpleasant - apologies if it does.

Photo by Jane Mejdahl via Flickr

The Telegraph reported over the weekend that DTZ is facing a multi-million pound court action issued by the administrators of Shaid Luqman's Lexi Holdings.

The case reportedly revolves in part around valuations DTZ placed on No Man's Land Fort, a Victorian fort in the Solent [Photo on left may not be the actual fort, but it looks a lot like it].

I have prided myself on being up-to-date on all matters Lexi so I am v disappointed that I missed it. I am now off to court to see if I can get the particulars of claim.

I will also have a look for DTZ's defence to the claim which, I am sure, will be a complete and vehement denial of liability [although I dont know that yet because I havent been to court].

Photo by Mike Lawrence via Flickr