24 May 2011 - High Court dismisses claim for conversion of valuable medieval embroideries

Mrs Justice Thirlwall DBE has dismissed a claim for conversion in relation to two valuable medieval tapestries in Spencer v S Franses Ltd [2011] EWHC 1269 (QB).

The claim was brought by the Claimant antiques dealer, who acquired the embroideries at a house clearance in September 1997. There had been disputes between the Claimant and other parties as to whether or not the Claimant had acquired title to the items.  These claims were settled before trial. The Claimant subsequently passed the embroideries over to the Defendant, which is a well-known specialist in the field of antique and historical textiles and embroideries. The Defendant carried out research on the embroideries with the mutual intention that an agreement would be secured between them for the payment of commission to the Defendant on any sale. As a result of its research, the Defendant established that the embroideries were medieval rather than 19th Century in origin (as had been previously asserted by an expert), and therefore worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of pounds.

After this work had been carried out, a dispute emerged between the parties. The Defendant asserted a right to hold on to the embroideries until it could be established that the Claimant had good title to them and until the Defendant received payment for the research work it had carried out. The Claimant brought a claim in conversion for return of the embroideries together with damages, including aggravated damages for malice.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall decided that the evidence showed that no agreement had ever been concluded between the parties. However, the Defendant was entitled to a quantum meruit for the work done on the embroideries, to the value of £80,750 plus VAT. The Defendant had established that the embroideries were medieval and potentially of great cultural importance and therefore that they were worth much more than when it had started the work in 2003. That the Claimant should take that benefit without paying for the work which had been done would be unconscionable.

The court also concluded that the Defendant was entitled to assert a lien over the embroideries. The court held that the work done by the Defendant amounted to an improvement in the value of the embroideries rather than work carried out in respect of them which could be severed from the embroideries themselves. The embroideries and what was known about them was indivisible: they would never again be considered to be of 19th century origin.

The Judge rejected the Claimant's claims for aggravated damages for malice and found that the Defendant had acted in good faith.

The claim was accordingly dismissed.  The Defendant was awarded 80% of its costs on the indemnity basis.

The judgment includes discussion of numerous interesting points in the area of art law and the law applicable to chattels, including

(1)  Whether a lien can be claimed without physical improvment of the underlying item

(2)  The circumstances in which a bailee is entitled to investigate the title of his bailor and to rely on third party claims to the bailed item.

Henry Legge successfully appeared for the Defendant.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall's judgment can be found at the link below.

Judgment >>