Daniel Goldblatt Appears in Successful Privy Council Appeal in Estate Dispute

Daniel Goldblatt acted in an estate dispute involving twelve siblings and a contested portion of land from their late father’s estate. Lord Briggs, giving judgment for the Privy Council, commended Daniel’s “able submissions” and held that although the proprietary estoppel claim could not succeed — given it had not been properly advanced before the High Court — the Appellants nevertheless succeeded on two out of three key issues.

1. 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥: The Board agreed that the Court of Appeal was wrong to overturn the trial judge’s findings that the First Appellant had indeed been promised a specific portion of the estate by her father.

2. 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘵 𝘈𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦: The Board further held that it was irrational for the Court of Appeal to order the demolition of buildings on the land, particularly where neither party was seeking such relief.

This decision underscores the importance of appellate restraint when reviewing trial-level findings of fact, and the need for remedies to reflect the issues genuinely in dispute. He was led by Anand Ramlogan SC and instructed by Jared Jagroo of Freedom Law Chambers. Congratulations to Daniel for his work on this complex and multi-layered appeal.

Read the full Judgment here.