Question 1

John owned a small business that specialised in remedial massage with soft, almost hypnotic, music "to soothe the soul". One day at a party, where the fine wines were flowing a little too freely, he met his solicitor, Philomena, and he told her about the property he wanted to buy for his business. Philomena, full of the joys of life after the wine, told him to go and buy it. 'You only live once, so follow your dreams" said she.

The next day, John took the plunge and committed to buy the small property. What he found when it was all too late was that a business specialising in amplifiers and high-capacity speakers for the rock music market was moving into the property next door, which shared a party wall with John, who now has no option but to back out of the deal and incur substantial penalty costs. He wants to sue Philomena for damages, arguing that she should have advised him to wait until she had first done some checks.

Advise John if Philomena owes him a duty of care for a negligent statement causing loss. (DO NOT DISCUSS ANY OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE.) Also, use the IRAC method to answer this question.

(5 marks)