Labrouche v Frey & Ors: Where different legal systems collide

On 18 February 2016, Asplin J delivered judgment following the trial of a long-running claim for breach of trust, which principally concerned the relationship between an English Will trust of a Swiss resident and a Liechtenstein Establishment and issues regarding remuneration of the trustees. The claims, all but one of which were dismissed, were brought by a disgruntled beneficiary against former trustees including his mother, who is also the life tenant.

The professional trustees were represented by Emily Campbell and Simon Atkinson and the claimant’s mother was represented by Michael Furness QC and Tiffany Scott, all four of whom will be speaking about various issues raised by the case including the nature of a trustee’s duty to account, tracing, the correct approach to drawing inferences from the evidence of events which happened a long time ago and the defences which are available to trustees who have acted honestly and reasonably.

Online link to judgment (BAILI)