| AdminHistory | From 1978-1992 the Corporation was involved in a protracted dispute with the consultant engineers that had been appointed to undertake structural and civil engineering work on the town centre development. From 1967 to 1972 Zinn Hunter and Partners, and its predecessor W V Z and Associates, carried out considerable work on behalf of the LDC in relation to the development Livingston town centre. In August 1972 the contemplated development was abandoned. This gave rise to two questions: Were Zinn Hunter entitled to recover from the defenders fees for professional services rendered prior to 1971 - when the work had been carried out by W V Zinn and Associates and not Zinn Hunter and Partners, - and, secondly, if they were entitled to claim fees for this period, upon what basis should those fees be calculated?
A summary of the case is as follows:
In 1967 W V Zinn and Associates were appointed consulting engineers to the Corporation in connection with the engineering aspects of the town centre development. In 1971 W V Zinn reorganised into three elements and the Livingston Development Corporation asked that its consultancy worked be transferred to Zinn Hunter & Partners. A meeting took place on 31 July 1971 to discuss this transfer, no contracts had yet taken place so Zinn Hunter agreed to be soley responsible as consulting engineers on design and structural work. On 9 August 1971 Zinn and Associates sent LDC a note of fees and confirmed that in event of a contract being handed over to Zinn Hunter & Partners no further charges would be owed to Zinn & Associates. Any work that post dated 1 Jun 1971 was to be paid direct to Zinn Hunter and Partners. The LDC agreed to this.
On 2nd September 1971 LDC wrote to Zinn & Associates to hold in abeyance any further design work, apart from two minor items. On 15 September 1971 LDC wrote Zinn Hunter & Partners agreeing to transfer to, with effect from 1 June 1971, the LDC's commission which had originally been appointed to Zinn and Associates.
On 18th August the Corporation Board agreed that design changes to the regional centre had rendered much of the work by Zinn Hunter & Partners abortive. The Board agreed no portion of the fees for abortive work should be borne by Midlothian County Council as it had been the LDC which had made the decisions.
On 23 August 1972 Zinn Hunter & Partners were offered a commission as consulting engineers for a number of bridges in the regional centre. It was agreed to discuss later a possible abeyment of fees on survey work already in Zinn Hunter's possession
On 4th Septembed 1978 Zinn Hunter & Partners wrote LDC referring to thier appointment as consulting engineers for Livingston town centre development prior to 1971 and set out a basis for computation of fees. This basis was not accepted and further discussions took place between LDC and Zinn Hunter & Partners.
On 30 March 1979 Zinn Hunter & Partners submitted an account for £104, 637, stating that this was 60% of the fee due for civil and structural engineering duties with fees for electrical and mechanical duties to be agreed.
On 14th June 1979 Zinn Hunter & Partners wrote LDC informing the LDC they intended to seek Counsel's advice.
On 20th June 1979 the Board was advised of the appointment of Woolgar Hunter & Partners as consulting engineers for the design of road bridges. The same meeting was also informed of the dispute regarding fees prior to 1971, following Counsel's advice liability for the fees prior to 1971 was denied by the LDC and the matter was taken to arbitration.
An informal meeting took place with the arbiter in 1980, arbitration took place in 1981 with a decision issued on 27 March 1981. The arbitre found the LDC was liable to pay the fees incurred prior to 1971, The LDC accepted this position, but disputed the basis on which the fees should be calculated. A meeting took place with Zinn Hunter who submitted fees of £1,306,699. The LDC could find no rational basis for these fees.
Following the two, opposite, intractable positions on the calculation of the fees, the case proceeded to the Court of Session and then through the court system throughout the 1980s, until it reached the House of Lords. The LDC had moved to have the case dimissed but on 15 November 1991 Lord Weir denied this motion.
The LDC prepared to appeal which implied there were several years left to run in the case. In 1992 Zinn Hunter contacted the Corporation implying a wish to settle rather than pursue the case through appeal and counter-appeal. Zinn Hunter agreed to settle for £20,000 with each side meeting their own legal expenses. As the original claim had been £440,000 which, with interest, would run to £560,000, the Corporation decided to accept this offer. |
| ScopeandContent | 1-7. Administration files with Woolgar and Hunter which, at first, chart the working relationship but later were used in the legal proceedings, 1967-1990.
8-11. Case notes, master copy of court papers and proceedings, and correspondence with solicitors, 1967-1993.
12-22. Other legal files with papers on the arbtration, pleadings, and further litigation; reports on fee calculations and examinations of the fees claimed by Hunter and Woolgar, 1966-1993.
23-36. Transcripts of Session Court Proceedings, 1983.
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