Ref. Howard v Howard – Lawson [2012] EWCA Civ 6
The man who sued his own 78 year old father four times in eight years over the sale of their 13th Century Corby Castle estate in North Cumbria has now been defeated yet again in the courts. He claimed he had been ‘duped out of his inheritance’, but Mr Justice Norris of the High Court in London disagreed.
The row is over a Grade I listed mansion, set in park and farmland on the bank of the River Eden near Carlisle. The property was first bought in 1611 by William Howard, the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded for treason by Elizabeth I after scheming to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. Thirteen generations of ownership by the Howards later and it was sold to Northern Irish businessman Edward Haughey for a reputed £1.85million in 1994.
The result has been 22 allegations against Sir John Howard-Lawson, 78, by his son Philip Howard, 51, including coercion, fraud, theft and deception. Justice Norris rejected 21 of these 22 allegations and ordered the payment of £100,000 worth of legal costs by Mr Howard. As if to add insult to injury, he also stated that Mr Howard was entitled to a ground rent of just £5.60 a year from households on the estate.
Justice Norris said it was beyond his power to repair broken relationships in a baronet’s family. He said Mr Howard, estranged from his father, had become “deeply hostile” towards Sir John:
“He finds it easy to resort to terms such as ‘fraud’, ‘theft’, ‘deception’, ‘dishonesty’, ‘lying’, ‘coercion’ and ‘bullying’, and to accuse a range of professionals of gross breaches of duty.â€
As a result, he made a series of rulings in favour of Sir John. He said some allegations were the “product of an obsession” and “not grounded in reality”. Mr Howard had been “astute and argumentative”.
“Although there were occasional instances of moderation and balance, his evidence was for the most part intensely partisan,” added the judge. “I do not feel able to rely on the accuracy of Mr Howard’s recollection.”
Mr Howard had already lost fights in the High Court and Court of Appeal after claiming that Sir John should have been disqualified from inheriting the estate in the first place on the grounds of non-compliance with a clause in the will.
Despite this latest rebuff, Mr Howard has reputedly vowed to take the matter on to the Court of Appeal.
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