Doser v Lopez is a case concerning a very valuable vintage Porsche owned by Mr Doser. He had entrusted care of the car to a rogue, Mr Edwards who then sold the car without Mr. Doser’s knowledge or agreement to a Portuguese citizen called Lopez. When Mr Doser discovered the loss he issued proceedings claiming that the Porsche still belonged to him and seeking damages or delivery up of the vehicle.
In his defence, Mr Lopez claimed that Mr Edwards had either actual or apparent authority from Mr Doser to sell the car or, alternatively, that pursuant to s.2(1) of The Factors Act 1889 Edwards had sold him the car with the actual or apparent authority of Mr Doser or that he had bought the car in good faith from Edwards who was acting in the normal course of business.
The court had no difficult in rejecting all these heads of defence. There was no evidence that Edwards had actual authority from Mr. Doser to sell the car at the price paid and, as a matter of law and fact, Mr. Doser had not cloaked Edwards with anything which would justify the claim that the latter acted with apparent authority. Finally, the judge held that it was clear that Edwards had not been acting in the course of business as a dealer in vintage cars and that Edwards had waved so many red flags that Mr. Lopez must have known that Edwards was dishonest. The conclusion was that Mr. Lopez had not acted in good faith.
I hope this blog will show the importance of the law of agency both in everyday life as well as major transactions.