Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

High Court summary judgment: dishonest assistance in QROPS pension breach of trust; objective dishonesty (Ivey; Group Seven); brochure terms breached; LLP members liable, Burns v Burns (England and Wales)

Published on: 25 January 2021

Published by a LexisNexis Pensions expert

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Article summary

Burns v Burns and others [2021] EWHC 75 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case?

This judgment illustrates how the approaches in Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd [2017] UKSC 67 and Group Seven Ltd (a co incorporated under the laws of Malta) and another company v Notable Services LLP and another and other cases [2019] EWCA Civ 614 can be applied in practice at first instance, where a claimant seeks to secure a dishonest assistance finding within the constraints of the summary judgment process. It also emphasises that, in a suitable case, exposing trust assets to risk by a non‑trustee—for example, an operator of an unregulated investment scheme which, on a proper reading of the relevant documentation, involved unauthorised use—may amount to dishonest behaviour. That assessment turns on the defendant’s actual knowledge of the underlying facts and the court’s objective appraisal of the steps taken by reference to the standards of ordinary reasonable conduct. In this dispute, because the objective facts were largely undisputed or plainly revealed by the documents, the court was prepared to grasp the nettle and reach a summary determination on the conduct complained of without the need for a full trial on liability...

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