Rathbone Brothers Plc & anr v Novae Corporate Underwriting Ltd & ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1464
March 2015 #147Rathbone 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...
Roadchef (Employee Benefits Trustees) Ltd v Hill & ors [2014] EWHC 3109 (Ch)
March 2015 #147The claimant was an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) created by a company as part of a scheme to encourage employee share ownership. The mechanics of the scheme were that the EBT borrowed funds from a bank which it used to purchase shares in the company, with the loan being secured by a charge on the shares and guaranteed by the company. A separate share participation scheme (SPS), financed through funds provided by the company, purchased shares from the EBT which it then transferred to beneficiaries of the scheme (being employees of the company) in accordance with directions provided by the...
Williams v Seals & ors [2014] EWHC 3708 (Ch)
March 2015 #147The deceased, Mr Seals, (D) committed suicide on 10 December 2013. He was depressed following his wife’s death from cancer in August 2010. However, the mental health team who saw him in September and November 2012 did not identify any major disordering mental illness. After his wife’s death D renewed a childhood friendship with the applicant Mrs Williams (B) and letters he wrote to her suggested a considerable degree of emotional dependence upon her. On 12 May 2011 he made a will using B’s solicitors and appointed her his executrix. He left her all his property and assets. At the same ti...
Wright v Waters & anr [2014] EWHC 3614 (Ch)
March 2015 #147The claimant was Patricia Wright who made a claim against the estate of her mother Mary Waters. Mrs Waters died on 29 December 2010 leaving an estate worth £138,000.
Mrs Waters had two children – Patricia and David. Patricia (a widow) has one child Victoria and two grandchildren. Patricia suffers from numerous medical conditions and is wheelchair bound. Her outgoings exceed her income.
David married Susan and has four children.
Mrs Waters made a will in January 2009 leaving legacies of £5000 to each of David’s children, £7,000 between her sister-in-law and a niece an...
AIB Group (UK) Plc v Mark Redler & Co Solicitors [2014] UKSC 58
March 2015 #147The appellant bank instructed the respondent solicitors to act in relation to a £3.3m re-mortgage on behalf of themselves and the borrowers. The borrowers’ property (the property) was already subject to a first charge in favour of Barclays. A part of the respondent’s instructions was to redeem the outstanding Barclays mortgage and to secure a first charge against the property in the appellant’s favour.
Due to an oversight, the respondents paid only £1,23m of the outstanding £1.5m Barclays loan and then transferred the balance to the borrowers. Having realised their error, the resp...
JSC Mezhdunarodniy Promyshlenniy Bank & anr v Pugachev & ors [2014] EWHC 3547 (Ch)
March 2015 #147This concerned an application by the trustees of five discretionary trusts of which the defendant was a discretionary object. The defendant was the founder of the first claimant, a Russian bank (the bank). The bank had subsequently gone into administration and the second claimant, a Russian state organisation (the DIA), had been appointed as its liquidator. The DIA sought to enforce various claims against the defendant in Russian and English proceedings. The sums involved were in the order of $2.2bn.
At a hearing before Henderson J on 11 July 2014 a freezing order was made agains...
Libertarian Investments Ltd v Hall FACV Nos 14 & 16 of 2012
March 2015 #147W and the defendant embarked on a project with the aim of acquiring a substantial interest in an English company, TSE, which started with the acquisition of 125,000 TSE shares in 2002 (the first tranche). In 2003 they attempted to make additional acquisitions of TSE shares, such attempts involving three of W’s companies, including the plaintiff. The overall scheme was that funds would be provided by one company, Assanzon, for the acquisition of shares for another company, Momentum, which were held for its beneficial owners which were principally the plaintiff company, Libertarian. The fu...
Re Miles; The Public Guardian v Miles & ors [2014] EWCOP 40
March 2015 #147This was an application by the Public Guardian for the court to determine the validity of provisions in two lasting powers of attorney, one for property and affairs and one for health and welfare (the LPAs). The LPAs were made by by Mrs Miles on 27 November 2013. A solicitor called Mr Satchell drew them up.
Under the LPAs Mrs Miles appointed her husband and daughter as her attorneys under both powers; appointed her son as her replacement attorney; directed that her attorneys act jointly for some decisions and jointly and severally for others; selected option A in the health and we...