Morritt LJ discussed the ‘corporate opportunitycases’: ‘Those are cases in which a beneficial commercial opportunity comes the company’s way and forms knowledge owned or possessed by the directors as agents for the company. Those directors then seek to use that knowledge or opportunity for themselves and are subsequently held to be constructive trustees of it and of its fruits for the company whence they took it.’ As to Cook v Deeks: ‘ . . . it seems to me that in cases such as that there is a distribution or a disposal of the property of the company in breach of trust.’
Judges:
Morritt, Aldous, Hutchinson LJ
Citations:
[1998] EWCA Civ 1881, [1999] 1 BCLC 649, [1999] 1 BCLC 649
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Barnes v Addy 12-Feb-1874
A stranger to a trust can be liable in equity for assisting in a breach of trust, even though he received no trust property.
Lord Selborne said: ‘Now in this case we have to deal with certain persons who are trustees, and with certain other . .
Cited – Cook v Deeks and Hinds PC 23-Feb-1916
Company Directors not free to prefer Own Interests
Deeks and Hinds were the directors of a construction company. They negotiated a lucrative construction contract with the Canadian Pacific Railway. During the negotiations, they decided to enter into the contract personally, on their own behalves, . .
Cited by:
Cited – Ultraframe (UK) Ltd v Fielding and others ChD 27-Jul-2005
The parties had engaged in a bitter 95 day trial in which allegations of forgery, theft, false accounting, blackmail and arson. A company owning patents and other rights had become insolvent, and the real concern was the destination and ownership of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Company
Updated: 27 November 2022; Ref: scu.145360