Life On The Line: How to Lose a Million and So Much More

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Bearing in mind the observations of the European Court in Benincasa that the concept of "consumer" must be strictly construed, there is no justification for interpreting those terms in that restricted fashion.

In the present case the agent for the defender submitted that in employing someone effectively to act as a recruitment consultant the defender was not engaging in a managerial act; it was a matter of personal requirement that he seek employment.

In this action the pursuers seek to enforce certain rights which they allege arise under a Management Agreement entered into between them and the defender on 31 July 2000. Two decisions of the European Court which are of relevance to this issue were discussed in submissions to me.

I was going to dock one star off my rating as I felt at times the author repeated himself quite a bit, but upon reflection I recognise he is speaking from the heart and is simply trying to make sure he gets his story across and so reminds us repeatedly of the things he did to get money to gamble. I have equally no doubt that this agreement, which is a contract of agency, is one in which the defender appointed the pursuers to act on his behalf in all matters relating to the carrying on of that profession, including the all important aspect of getting him a contract of employment in the first place. The decisive factor is, therefore, not the personal circumstances of the individual but rather his position under a particular contract, having regard to its scope and purpose". He talks about his addiction and how it led to him stealing, going to loan sharks, left him facing jail and considering the ultimate gamble - suicide - before he finally got his life back on the straight and narrow.That argument, derived from the dicta in Di Pinto, has some support in the observations of Lord Caplan in Chapman. That was an action in which a firm of solicitors sued for professional fees arising out of work undertaken by them in representing the defender's interests in an action brought by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in which he sought the disqualification of the defender from acting as a company director. He was referred to the Benincasa case and in particular to the observation in the judgment of the European Court of Justice that "only contracts concluded for the purpose of satisfying an individual's own needs in terms of private consumption come under the provisions designed to protect the consumer". Finally, I was referred to Standard Bank London Ltd v Apostolakis (Queen's Bench Division Commercial Court, 19 January 2000 unreported).