Re Lehman Brothers Intl (Europe) [2010] EWCA Civ 917
October 2012 #123Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE), an English unlimited company, was the principal European trading company in the Lehman Brothers group. LBIE entered administration on 15 September 2008. The administrators made several applications to the court for directions.
The issues on appeal concerned the application of chapter 7 of the Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS 7) issued by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). CASS 7 was intended to transpose the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2004/39/EC (MiFID) and its Implementing Directive into English law, under the FSA’...
Page & anr v Hewetts Solicitors & anr [2012] EWCA Civ 805
October 2012 #123The claimants (P) were the beneficiaries under their parents’ will. The first respondents Hewetts, solicitors (H) were retained to advise and act for P in the administration of their parents’ estates. The second respondent, Christopher Fuller (F) was employed by H as a legal executive. F was instructed by P in 1998 in relation to a sale of P’s parents’ property. Unknown to P at the time, F carried on business as a property developer through Exnine Developments (E) and recommended that P sell the property for £190,000 to Sahana Enterprises Ltd (S), which had agreed...
Trustees & anr v Capmark Bank [2011] EWCA Civ 380
October 2012 #123The appellants were the trustees of the Maylands Unit Trust (the trustees), a Jersey-based unit trust formed as a vehicle for the acquisition of warehouse premises in Hemel Hampstead (the property) by Cantabria Investments Ltd (Cantabria). The purchase price of the property was £28.1m, funded by £7.1m of Cantabria’s own resources and a £21m loan from Capmark Bank Europe (the bank) and secured on the property. The security was created by a deed of guarantee and debenture (the debenture) between the trustees and the bank. At the time of the purchase of the property it was subject to ...
Bahouse & anr v Negus [2008] EWCA Civ 1002
September 2012 #122Henry Bahouse (D) died on 27 March 2005 leaving an estate of approximately £2.2m in including a flat worth approximately £400,000. He had been married twice before and there was a son of his first marriage, Gordon (G), the residuary legatee under D’s will of 24 January 1996 and one of the executors seeking permission to appeal the decision of the lower court. Cyd Negus (C) was D’s cohabitee. No provision was made for her in the will and she made various claims against the estate. In the High Court she was awarded maintenance under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act...
Independent Trustee Services Ltd v GP Noble Trustees Ltd & ors [2012] EWCA Civ 195
September 2012 #122Anthony Morris (Mr Morris) orchestrated a series of frauds between August 2007 and April 2008 by which £52m was misappropriated from various occupational pension schemes by their trustees, GP Noble Trustees Ltd and BDC Trustees Ltd. The appellant was Independent Trustee Services Ltd (ITS), which had been appointed as trustee of the 1653 pension schemes by the Pensions Regulator in July 2008. Mr Morris was found liable in dishonest assistance for £52m and in knowing receipt for £4.89m by Peter Smith J in July 2010 ([2010] EWHC 1653 (Ch)) (the chancery action).
Mr Morris had married...
North Shore Ventures Ltd v Anstead Holdings Inc [2012] EWCA Civ 11
September 2012 #122The substantive action concerned a written agreement between North Shore Ventures Limited (North Shore) and Anstead Holdings Inc (Anstead) made in March 2003 (the agreement). In 2008 Anstead’s assets were transferred into trusts of which Mr Fomichev and Mr Peganov (the appellants) and their family members were discretionary beneficiaries (the trusts). On 20 August 2008 North Shore issued a claim against Anstead and the appellants for monies owing under the agreement. On 21 June 2010, Newey J gave judgment against the appellants for sums in excess of $50m. On 9 March 2011, the Court...
Central Bank of Nigeria v Williams [2012] EWCA Civ 415
June 2012 #120In 1986, Dr Williams (D) participated in a transaction under which, he alleges, he was defrauded of $6,520,190. He commenced proceedings on 10 March 2010 against Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) alone, asserting that: an English solicitor, Reuben Gale (R), held that sum of money in his client account in trust for D on terms that he would only release it if and when certain funds had been paid in Nigeria; in May 1986 R fraudulently paid away $6,020,190 of the sum held by him for D to the account of CBN with Midland Bank in England; CBN was party to the fraud; and R retained the balance of $5...
Barrett v Bem & ors [2012] EWCA Civ 52
May 2012 #119Martin Lavin (the testator) died on 11 January 2004 in Hammersmith Hospital leaving a will in which he left everything to his sister Anne Liston whom he also appointed executor (the will). Anne died on 04 November 2004 having obtained probate of the will in June 2004. Her daughter, Hanora Bem was appointed her executor. Hanora wrote out the will at Hammersmith Hospital on the day of the testator’s death. The testator was alleged to have signed the will at approximately 3.30pm on the date of his death. It was purportedly witnessed by two staff nurses.
In May 2007, proceedings were ...
Howard v Howard-Lawson [2011] EWHC 63 (Ch)
May 2012 #119Philip John Canning Howard (testator), who died on 22 April 1934, was entitled to landed estates but his only child was a daughter who married and had issue with Sir Henry Joseph Lawson Bt. The testator was concerned to ensure the continuance of the association of his family name and arms with his landed estates, and by his will, he settled them on trusts that were designed to prevent his descendants from disentailing them for as long a period as possible, but made the enjoyment of possession by each successive remainderman conditional on adopting the name and arms of Howard. Each tenant...
Marley v Rawlings & anr [2012] WTLR 639
May 2012 #119Alfred Thomas Rawlings (H) and Maureen Catherine Rawlings (W) were husband and wife who, on 17 May 1999, signed mirror wills leaving their entire estate to each other or, if the other failed to survive, to the appellant who was treated as their son. The respondents, who were their natural sons, were excluded but stood to benefit on intestacy if the wills were invalid. In the event, by mistake H signed W’s will and W signed H’s will but the error was not noticed then, or on the death of W. It was only noticed after the death of H in August 2006 when a dispute arose as to whether the estat...