Description
Dispute concerning the amount of interest payable on a former partner's agreed share of the firm's assets. The pursuer submitted that an outgoing partner has an extra right to claim a higher rate of interest at common law.
Held: There was no authority to support the proposition that an extra common law right to interest exists for partners. The treatment of post-dissolution profits is regulated by the
Partnership Act 1890, to which interest is confined to the statutory rate. An award of compound interest will only be justified in special and exceptional circumstances where a breach of a fiduciary relationship, such as wrongful withholding, is established (
Roxburgh Dinardo & Partners v Dinardo 1992 SC 188).
The pursuer was only entitled to claim interest on the basis of
s. 42(1), 1890 Act. As all the relevant conditions in that section had been met, simple interest was awarded at the rate of five per cent from the date of resignation.
