Walsh (as executrix of the estate of David G Walsh) and Others v Deloitte and Touche Inc , Trustee of the estate of Bre-X Minerals Limited , a bankrupt: PC 17 Dec 2001

References: No 37 of 2000, [2001] UKPC 58
Links: PC, PC, PC, Bailii
Coram: Lord Slynn of Hadley Lord Hoffmann Lord Rodger of Earlsferry Sir Martin Nourse Sir Kenneth Keith
Ratio:(Bahamas) Shares were sold in a mining company whose prices had been buoyed by rumour, but where disclosure of difficulties had not been made, and eventually it became clear that samples had bee fraudulently salted. The company became insolvent, and the respondents appointed. They obtained a continuing Mareva injunction against the appellant as executor of her husband’s estate in the Bahamas.
Held: An officer of a company owes a fiduciary duty to the company not to use his knowledge of its affairs by making a profit from dealing in what he knows to be a false market in its shares. Interlocutory jurisdiction is ordinarily ancillary to substantive jurisdiction. There was evidence that the appellants had tried move assets beyond the jurisdiction. The judge’s discretion had been exercised properly. An appeal on the ground of delay had not been pleaded.
This case cites:

  • Cited – Reading -v- Attorney General HL ([1951] AC 507, [1951] 1 All ER 617, [1951] 1 TLR 480, 95 Sol Jo 155, Bailii, [1951] UKHL 1)
    The applicant had been a sergeant in the army. He had misused army property and his uniform to assist in smuggling operations. After serving his sentence he now sought repayment of the money he had earned.
    Held: His claim failed. The money had . .

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