Back to summary of Threats Law
Who may sue?
All of the statutory provisions say that it is the “person aggrieved” who has the right to seek relief in respect of unjustified threats; it is not just the person to whom the threat is made who may sue. So a manufacturer may complain about a threat made, not to him but to his customer. And the principal shareholder of a company to whom a threat has been made may have a right to claim. But in all cases the person complaining must establish by evidence that the threat has or is likely to cause him damage which is not minimal. In Brain v Ingledew Brown above Laddie J said that in order to show that he has status to sue, the party complaining about a threat must show that his commercial interests “are or are likely to be adversely affected in a real as opposed to a fanciful or minimal way...”. But he balanced that by adding that he did not think that the court should be “astute to find that a complainant has not been affected in his commercial activities where it is clear that the purpose of the threat was to do so.”
Who is vulnerable to being sued?
The professional adviser on whose notepaper the relevant communication was printed may be joined as a defendant as well as the client on whose behalf it was sent. The court has, however, refused to permit the professional adviser to be joined in circumstances where it believed that this was being done as a tactic aimed at disrupting the client/adviser relationship. However, the authority for this is the first instance case of Reckitt Benkiser UK v Home Pairfume Ltd [2004] FSR 37 in which Laddie J justified the exercise of his discretion in refusing to order the professional adviser to be joined as a co-defendant. It is not certain that it will be followed in all cases, including cases where the Claim Form is issued against both client and adviser so that there is no requirement to apply to the court for leave to join.
More on the impact of a threats claim on the Client relationship.
Back to summary of Threats Law