Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Keymed v Hillman: England and Wales High Court rejects pension conspiracy claims; trustees owe no duty to sponsoring company; claimant barred from pursuing unpleaded negligence

Published on: 20 March 2019

Published by a LexisNexis Pensions expert

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Article summary

Keymed (Medical and Industrial Equipment) Ltd v Hillman and another [2019] EWHC 485 (Ch), [2019] All ER (D) 68 (Mar) What are the practical implications of the judgment?

In this case, the claimant contended that its ex–chief executive and chief financial officer had colluded to uplift their pension entitlements, to the company’s detriment and contrary to their obligations. The court rejected those assertions as unfounded, concluding there was no kind of breach of duty by either defendant. Accordingly, the claims that they had acted to enrich themselves at the company’s expense failed.

Beyond determining that, on the facts of the case, the facts disclosed no dereliction of duty, Marcus Smith J also ruled that, having advanced a case framed around graver wrongdoing, the claimant could not pivot to a case based on simple negligence; further, a trustee of an employee pension scheme, when operating in that role, owes no duties to the sponsoring employer. In short, the allegations were baseless and no duties were breached at all. The finding...

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