Case Alert - Recent English cases on estoppel
Guest v Guest (UKSC)
Overview
In Tinkler v HMRC [2021] UKSC 39, [2022] AC 886, [2021] 3 WLR 697
ABN Amro Bank NV v Royal and Sun Alliance [2021] EWCA Civ 1789, [2022] 1 WLR 1773
In Guest v Guest [2022] UKSC 27, [2022] 3 WLR 911 the UK Supreme Court considered the principles applicable to proprietary estoppel, and how those impact on selecting appropriate relief as a matter of equitable discretion. After examining previous case law, Lord Briggs considered that the court's starting point on remedy should be to redress unconscionability by enforcing the promise to transfer the property in question. However, considerations of justice (include the impact on others) may require consideration of alternative remedies (e.g. monetary equivalent). If the enforcement of the promise, or monetary equivalent, would be out of all proportion to the detriment to the promisee, then the court may need to limit the remedy, in order to do justice in the circumstances.
