Simon Cook of Roger Hannah & Co was appointed to act as an Expert Witness under the Civil Procedure Rules over the acquisition of a multi-million pound retail centre in North Manchester.
The appointing solicitors were acting for the defendant in the proceedings. The defendant was an international; practice of Chartered Surveyors who had provided acquisition advice to the claimant in the purchase of the shopping centre in 2006.
The dispute centred around the advice provided by the Chartered Surveyors to the client relating to the letting of the vacant retail units at the development.
Following acquisition the vacant retail units took a long period of time to let resulting in the claimant suffering financial loss. As an expert it was necessary to provide an opinion as to a realistic letting period taking due account of the date of acquisition in 2006 as well as forming a judgement on what actually happened factoring in the impact of the recession on the property market.
Following the submission of the expert advice the case was settled at mediation.