Raghav Trivedi Secures Successful Outcome in Complex Property Dispute

Raghav Trivedi has secured a successful result for his client in a recent complex proprietary estoppel case following a three-day preliminary issues trial at the High Court in Birmingham.

The case involved a high-value dispute within a wealthy family, with allegations of promises made over property ownership and significant reliance on those promises. The matter was set down last month with a set number of factual questions for the Court to determine in order to get to the bottom of this proprietary estoppel claim; questions of representation, reliance and detriment.

Due to minimal documentary evidence, the case required a meticulous approach to witness credibility, cross-examination, and fact-finding.

Allegations against Raghav‘s client, an elderly lady in poor health, were that she had expressly promised the transfer of her legal and beneficial interest in a set of commercial and residential premises to one of her sons upon her death and who also claimed to have suffered a detriment in reliance by way of incurring significant development costs in relation to the property.

The Court ultimately ruled in Raghav’s client’s favour, finding that no such representations had been made on the balance of probabilities. 

The case offers a timely reminder of the nature of a proprietary estoppel claim, the importance of looking at the evidence in the round, drawing inferences from the factual oral evidence to determine what was likely to have happened, and considering where the credibility of a witness may be undermined.

Raghav was instructed by Gregg Parkin and Beth Jenkins of Freeths.