Denaxe Ltd v Cooper & anr [2023] WTLR 1279

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2023 #193

The appellant, formerly known as Blackpool Football Club (Properties) Ltd, was the majority shareholder in Blackpool Football Club Ltd (BFCL) (which operated the football club business) and was the owner of other assets including the football stadium at which games were played (the footballing assets). A dispute broke out between the appellant and its owner and controller, Mr Oyston, on the one hand and VB Football Assets (VB), which was a minority shareholder in BFCL, on the other hand. This led to an unfair prejudice petition being issued and VB succeeded in obtaining a buy-out order f...

Johnston v Wackett [2022] WTLR 575

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2022 #187

Sidney Albert Johnston (the deceased) died on 27 March 2017. In prior proceedings, the deceased’s son, Colin Johnston (Colin), had brought a successful claim against the deceased’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act claim).

Following trial of the 1975 Act claim, Colin received a lump sum award of £125,000 (the award) and an order for costs.

A point of importance in the 1975 Act claim had been historic litigation between Colin and the deceased. This had resulted in a costs order being ...

The Law Society v Dua & anr [2021] WTLR 1469

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2021 #185

Between 2011 and 2013, the claimant obtained multiple charging orders in respect of five properties registered in the joint names of Mr and Mrs Dua. The Duas occupied four of the properties as a single residence, known together as ‘Fulmer House’. The other was a separate property known as 49 Sudbury Avenue.

The Duas had purchased 49 Sudbury Avenue in 1987 and occupied it as their family home until 2004. The purchase had been funded by a mortgage and the Duas’ evidence was that Mr Dua alone had made the mortgage payments. In 1992/93 and 1995, there were two major extensions to 49 S...

Strike out: Unfinished business

Alice Rogers looks at the courts’ approach to an application to strike out and the circumstances in which a financial consent order may not conclude the parties’ financial claims ‘The consent order in AR v JR was made with almost no financial disclosure from the husband, and the wife’s solicitors, and indeed the district judge, …
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Shiner v The Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs
 [2018] WTLR 649

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172

Facts


DS and IS were at all material times resident in the UK for tax purposes and were beneficially entitled to the income from MOH, an English property development company of which they were the shareholders and directors. On advice, they used a tax avoidance scheme that took advantage of the provisions of the 1955 UK-Isle of Man double tax treaty (DTT). These provisions exempted the industrial or commercial profits of an Isle of Man (IOM) enterprise, which could include a partnership, from UK tax unless it was engaged in trade or business in the UK through a permanent establis...

Possession proceedings: Revisiting res judicata

Can a court award mesne profits when an order for possession for the same wrongful act has already been granted? Rosalind Cullis considers a recent case ‘The principle behind mesne profits is that a trespasser is not allowed to use another person‘s land without compensating the landowner. The landowner does not need to have suffered …
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High Commissioner for Pakistan in the United Kingdom v Prince Mukkaram Jah, His Exalted Highness the 8th Nizam of Hyderabad [2016] EWHC 1465 (Ch)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2016 #165

The underlying claim concerned monies deposited in a new bank account with the National Westminster Bank (the bank) in the name of Mr Rahimtoola, the High Commissioner for Pakistan in London between 16 and 20 September 1948 (the Fund). The monies deposited had belonged to the state of Hyderabad/the 7th Nizam (Hyderabad’s absolute monarch at the time). The state of Hyderabad had been annexed to India between 13 and 18 September 2016. The underlying claim had been brought by Pakistan against the bank. A number of other defendants claiming an interest in the fund had been joined. Consequent...

Wills: Pub talk

James Lister and Fenner Moeran QC analyse a case that demonstrates how a Beddoe order is applied in practice ‘The trustees were faced with a significant difficulty: how to realise the interests of the beneficiaries to divide the property equally between them when one of them was in occupation of the property to the exclusion …
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Civil Claims: They think it’s all over – but often it’s not

Stuart Jones and David Miers investigate the trend for employees to relaunch employment claims in the civil courts ‘Subtle changes in the way that an employee pleads the claim or sets out the facts underpinning the claim may enable them to reprise an old grievance successfully.’ To the dismay and despair of many employers, it …
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