Gabriel Fadipe

Professional liability

Gabriel regularly advises and acts for both claimants and defendants in professional negligence cases, particularly claims against solicitors and barristers.

Recent instructions include :

• A claim against solicitors for negligent advice on conveyancing matters (failure to properly advise on the effect of low cost housing provisions in a residential development scheme).
• A claim against surveyors for the negligent valuation of a commercial property.
• A claim against solicitors and a barrister for the negligent conduct of commercial litigation.
• A claim against solicitors for failing to record properly the respective beneficial interests of the purchaser of a buy-to-let property.
• A claim by solicitors for a ‘negative declaration’, i.e. that they had not been negligent in acting for the defendants in a substantial property transaction.
• A claim against managing agents accused of negligently failing to arrange sufficient insurance cover for a property development.

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Property

Gabriel’s practice encompasses all elements of real property including landlord and tenant (both residential and commercial), mortgages, easements and restrictive covenants, boundary disputes and conveyancing. As well as the High Court and county courts, Gabriel regularly appears before the Land Registry Adjudicator and the Residential Property Tribunal.

Recent instructions include:

• A long-running claim by the landlord of commercial premises for rent arrears, where the tenant alleged that the lease had been surrendered.
• Defending the owners of a substantial flat in London against a claim by the freehold management company for an injunction to force them to undo major refurbishment works.
• A claim for the recovery of service charges for the cost of major works to the Corn Exchange in Manchester.
• Acting for the former director of a property finance company, alleged to have been party to a multimillion-pound ‘ponzi-style’ fraud.
• Various disputes over the beneficial ownership of property, particularly where purchased as a buy-to-let.
• Various landlord-tenant and mortgagee possession claims, many of which involved allegations of mis-selling (particularly with reference to lifetime mortgages or equity release schemes), undue influence (as in Barclays Bank v O’Brien and RBS v Etridge) or fraud.

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

Gabriel advises and appears in court on a variety of contentious private client matters, from those involving relatively modest estates to multimillion-pound offshore trusts.

Recent instructions include:

• Assisting counsel in Anguilla with a claim in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court against an executor and trustee for wrongly registering estate land as the executor’s own, on the grounds that she had been in adverse possession of the same.
• Assisting counsel in Anguilla with another claim in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court to remove the administrator of an estate, with associated proceedings for contempt of court against the administrator’s solicitors for failing to comply with an undertaking that they would cease acting in circumstances where they had a conflict of interest.
• Acting in divorce proceedings in the High Court for third-parties claiming to own the properties (valued in excess of £25m) that the wife alleged her husband owned.
• Defending an executor against allegations by beneficiaries that he acted in breach of duty by failing to convert and distribute trust assets shortly before the start of the global financial crisis.
• A claim by the widow in a polygamous marriage for a share in the UK matrimonial home.
• Defending a claim by the child of parents also in a polygamous marriage to a greater share in the UK family home.
• Various claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Download Trusts, probate and estates: contentious CV