Civil Liabilities:
LIABILITY FOR FAILURE TO STATE ANY MATTER OR REPORT
At Common Law, a contract of allotment is not a contract Uberrimae Fidei. The company is therefore not under a legal obligation to disclose or state in its prospectus any relevant matter or report. The allottee of shares has, therefore, no remedy against the company if he bought the shares which he would not have bought had the company made the relevant disclosure. This rule has not been changed by the disclosure requirements of the Companies Act.
However, the allottee may have a remedy for an omission if the failure to state any relevant fact had the indirect effect of rendering a stated fact untrue, with S.48 (a) of the Act. For example, in COLES v WHITE CITY (MANCHESTER) GREYHOUND ASSOCIATION LTD the prospectus stated that the land to be acquired by the company was "eminently suitable" for greyhound racing. No mention was made of the fact that approval of the local council was required in order to build public stands and kennels. This was held by the Court of Appeal to be a ground for rescission by the plaintiff.