Lord Morris in Hedley Byrne thought that the defendant needed some special expertise in order for there to be a special relationship – the defendant needing to be in a better position than the claimant to know the facts. (See above as to parity.) There is unlikely to be a special relationship if the parties are on an equal footing. Initially, the Privy Council thought that the claimant needed to show that it was the defendant’s business to give the advice in which they had special expertise However, the Court of Appeal in Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Mardon [1976] QB 801 stated that there was no need for the defendant to be in the business of giving advice. This approach was affirmed in the case of Chaudhry v Prabhakar [1989] 1 WLR 29 where the defendant, who had claimed to know about cars, gave advice to the plaintiff who was his friend. There was a special relationship even though it was not a professional consultation; merely advice in a social setting.