In one case, solicitors were involved in settlement negotiations. The claimant’s solicitor sent a fax to the other side offering to accept the money in court, subject to certain conditions. But, problems with the defendant’s fax system meant that the fax was never received. Shortly afterwards, the defendant phoned the claimant to put forward an increased offer, which the claimant then accepted. The issue to be decided was whether the claimant should have told the defendant about the fax that had been sent. The court held that there was no such duty. The claimant was entitled to stay silent since that was in the client’s best interests. However, if the claimant had been asked a specific question by the defendant (ie whether the money in court was accepted) then there would have been a duty to say that it had been. Needless to say, all such cases are judged on their own facts, with the courts trying to ensure that the parties are on an equal footing. This case (Adams [2006]) was recently approved in Thompson v Arnold [2007] where the court confirmed that there is no general duty to draw mistakes to the attention of the other side. Source: Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. © Practical Lawyer