Purchaser v Seller and Third-Party Purchaser for Breach of Contract and Complicity in Fraud

A seller, having agreed to sell a property to a purchaser under an initial agreement, subsequently sold the same property to a third party despite the first purchaser having taken possession and initiated legal action for specific performance, prompting the first purchaser to seek damages against the seller for non-performance and against the third party for complicity in the fraud. The court quashed the lower court's decision because, although the seller was liable for damages for breach of the initial promise to sell, the third party who purchased the property could not be held liable for complicity in the fraud merely by concluding the sale, as this act, on its own, did not constitute an element of fraud or the failure to perform the initial obligation, which was the seller's responsibility.