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never be possible to settle contentious litigation extra-judicially as neither party would be able to rely upon their settlement agreement if it could simply be terminated upon the giving of reasonable notice.
Agreement was not validly terminated
[68] Mr Lindsay had a fall back to the effect that, even if the Agreement can be terminated by the parties giving reasonable notice to each other, the Agreement had not been validly terminated by the defender, for two reasons.
- 1. First, no notice was given by the defender to the other parties to the Agreement, the pursuer and Dr Lindberg, that he wished to terminate the Agreement. The defender does not aver that any such notice was ever given direct to the pursuer or to Dr Lindberg. The absence of any such averments renders the defender's averments on this issue wholly irrelevant. Rather, by letter dated 23 October 2017 to Dr Michael Yellowlees, a solicitor, the defender advised that he had reconsidered the wording relating to feudal baronies contained in Letters Patent. This letter made no reference to the Agreement and was not copied by the defender to the pursuer or to Dr Lindberg. In particular, this letter did not state that the defender was giving notice of his termination of the Agreement. Indeed, the letter makes no reference to the pursuer or to Dr Lindberg. Accordingly, no notice was given by the defender to the other contracting parties of his intention to terminate the Agreement. Writing a letter to a solicitor, who had acted for the pursuer
