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Contract: Misrepresentation and Duress

Actionable misrepresentation and the elements of a claim

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Units 3 and 4

Overview

Actionable misrepresentation, general rule about silence and misrepresentation and half truth.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

When can a statement of opinion amount to a statement of fact?

Key term

What did Edgington v Fitzmaurice (1885) decide about a statement of intention?

Key term

How is a false statement of law treated in a misrepresentation claim?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define an actionable misrepresentation.

    Model answer

    An actionable misrepresentation is an unambiguous false statement of existing fact or law made by one party to the other before the contract, which induces that other party to enter into it.

  2. 2

    Why was there no actionable misrepresentation in Bisset v Wilkinson (1927)?

    Model answer

    The seller's statement that the land would carry two thousand sheep was an honest opinion about land that had never been used for sheep farming, and a statement of opinion is not a statement of fact.

  3. 3

    When can a statement of opinion amount to a statement of fact?

    Model answer

    Where the maker is in a position to know the true facts, the opinion carries an implied assertion that there are reasonable grounds for it, so in Smith v Land and House Property Corp (1884) describing a tenant in arrears as most desirable was a misrepresentation.

  4. 4

    What did Esso Petroleum v Mardon (1976) decide about a forecast given by an expert?

    Model answer

    It decided that a forecast of the petrol station's throughput by a company with special skill carried an implied representation that the estimate had been made with reasonable care, and the company was liable when it had not been.

  5. 5

    What did Edgington v Fitzmaurice (1885) decide about a statement of intention?

    Model answer

    It decided that a false statement about how borrowed money would be used misrepresented the present state of the directors' minds, and the state of a person's mind is as much a matter of fact as the state of their digestion.

  6. 6

    How is a false statement of law treated in a misrepresentation claim?

    Model answer

    The old rule that a misstatement of law could not be actionable has been abandoned, so a false statement about the legal position is now treated in the same way as a false statement of fact.

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AThe defendant owed the victim a duty of care and breached it.
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