The decision of the Court of Appeal, upholding decisions of the High Court in November and December 2022 ([2022] EWHC 2872 (Ch) and [2022] EWHC 3651 (Ch)), is reported at [2023] EWCA Civ 1276
Clients:
I represented a number of members of the Thind family, leading Rob Mundy and instructed by George Green LLP, defending a High Court action and a Companies Act petition brought against them by Mr Gill.
The case arose from an unfortunate family dispute, and started with the Thinds successfully resisting first an application by Mr Gill for a freezing injunction, and then applications by him for permission to pursue 7 derivative claims against them ([2020] EWHC 2973 (Ch)).
The principal issue at trial was whether Mr Gill held shares in three family companies, which owned and operated care and nursing homes, or in one case held an investment property, for his own benefit (as he contended) or on trust for some or all of his grandchildren (as the Thinds contended).
After an 11 day trial in October 2022, the High Court decided that Mr Gill held all the shares in dispute on trust, and he appealed to the Court of Appeal in respect of the shares in one of the care and nursing home companies.
In its judgment handed down on 2 November 2023 the Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Peter Jackson, Lady Justice Asplin and Lord Justice Arnold) dismissed Mr Gill’s appeal, and refused him permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal held that the Judge in the High Court had made no error of law, that his findings of fact were ones which were open to him and, indeed, that there was additional evidential support for those findings beyond that relied on in his judgment.
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