P v P [2015] EWCA Civ 447

July/August 2015 #151

A husband and wife met in 1999 and married in 2003. They had one child together, of primary school age at the time of the proceedings. In 2005 the husband and wife moved into a farmhouse owned by the husband’s parents. In 2009 the husband’s parents settled the farmhouse on a discretionary trust for the benefit of their children and remoter descendants. Subject to the power to appoint the capital and income to the discretionary beneficiaries, the farmhouse was held on trust to pay the income to the husband for life, and it was declared that the making of any land comprised within the trus...

National Westminster Bank v Lucas [2014] EWCA Civ 1632

May 2015 #149

Jimmy Savile died in October 2011. His will dated 24 July 2006 named NatWest as his executor and left the residue of his estate to the Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust (the trust) which he had created in 1984. Probate was obtained on 8 March 2012 with a net estate of £4.3m. The bank placed s27 Trustee Act adverts on 5 January 2012.

Following an ITV programme broadcast on 4 October 2012 accusing Mr Savile of being a serial sex offender, NatWest began to receive letters from potential claimants seeking compensation from the estate. NatWest quickly appreciated that the estate c...

Pike v HMRC [2014] EWCA Civ 824

April 2015 #148

The appellant set up a company in March 2000 which issued shares to him. Three days later, the company issued £6m nominal of loan stock with a right to a premium on redemption of 7.25% per annum. The 7.25% accrued on a daily basis until redemption. Five days after the issue of the loan stock the loan stock was transferred into a settlement and the value of the loan stock at this time was declared as just over £2.5m. The company commenced trading thereafter.

On his annual return, the appellant claimed relief for a loss of approximately £3.5m which he claimed to have sustained on th...

Rathbone Brothers Plc & anr v Novae Corporate Underwriting Ltd & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1464

March 2015 #147

Rathbone Brothers plc (Rathbone) was a substantial international group whose trust business included the management of family trusts for wealthy clients. Mr Egerton-Vernon (EV) was an employee of, and subsequently a consultant to, its subsidiary, Rathbone Trust Company Jersey Ltd (Trust Company). He was entitled to an indemnity from Rathbone and the trust company for liabilities arising from the performance of his services as a personal trustee of the Walker Trust to a limit of £40m. Rathbone took out insurance for itself and its subsidiaries (including the trust company) with AIG, which...

Cotton & anr v Earl of Cardigan & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1312

January/February 2015 #146

The claimants were the present trustees of the Savernake Estate, the principal asset of which was a grade I listed house known as Tottenham House together with a dilapidated grade II listed stable block (together Tottenham House). Unoccupied since the 1990s and decaying fast, it was proposed to sell Tottenham House not least because of the need to repay significant borrowing from the bank. There was no dispute as to the trustees’ decision to sell; what was disputed was the process by which that sale should be achieved. The beneficiaries of the trust were the first defendant (Lord C...

Lim v Walia [2014] EWCA Civ 1076

January/February 2015 #146

Jocelyn Walia died on 25 March 2011 aged 38. She had married Mr Walia in July 2003 and they had a daughter Emma-Kaur in November 2004.

In 21 May 2002, they bought a fixed-term life insurance. On the first death the survivor would be paid the sum insured. On proof of one of the life insured was suffering a terminal illness then the payment was brought forward and then no death benefit would be payable.

After they separated Mrs Walia moved to the Philippines and had a son Philip Lim in July 2009. In February 2011 she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Mrs Walia died i...

Southwell v Blackburn [2014] EWCA Civ 1347

January/February 2015 #146

In 2002, the appellant and the respondent set up home together in a house in Droitwich. They remained unmarried. The property was purchased in the appellant’s sole name with his money alone, and he took on sole responsibility for the mortgage. On the breakdown of their relationship, the respondent claimed that the appellant held the property was held by him on constructive trust for both parties in equal shares. That claim failed before His Honour Judge Pearce-Higgins QC, but her alternative proprietary estoppel claim succeeded. The respondent was awarded £28,500 in satisfaction of the e...

The Woodland Trust v Loring & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1314

January/February 2015 #146

The Woodland Trust brought this appeal on the basis that the Chancery Court judge at first instance had not determined the construction of a will correctly. The matter involved the estate of Valerie Smith who died in 2011 leaving a will executed on 2 February 2001 which left her residuary estate (totalling £680,805), to her family (the respondents) and the Woodland Trust. The relevant clauses for construction were clauses 5 and 6. Clause 5 stated as follows:

‘MY TRUSTEES shall set aside out of my residuary estate assets or cash of an aggregate value equa...

Novoship (UK) Limited & ors v Nikitin & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 908

November 2014 #144

Mr Mikhaylyuk (M), a manager for the first respondent, NOUK, with responsibility for negotiating the charters of vessels owned by companies within the Novoship group, the remaining respondents, owed fiduciary duties to all the respondents. M had arranged a series of schemes by which he defrauded his principals and enriched himself and others by the payment of bribes given to him by those who chartered his principals’ vessels. These schemes included one concerning vessels chartered to companies owned and controlled by Mr Ruperti (R) which R then sub-chartered at substantially higher rates...

Patel v Mirza [2014] EWCA Civ 1047

November 2014 #144

The appellant was a property dealer and the respondent was a foreign exchange broker, who had a personal spread-betting account with IG Index. In August 2009, a third party informed the appellant of a deal offered by the respondent that involved a bet on the movement in the value of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The defendant claimed to know people who sat in on meetings between the heads of RBS and officials from the government, and it was expected the Chancellor would make a public statement which would have an effect on the share price of RBS. Following an initial telephone ...