News & Events
News & Events
Trusts & Trustees has recently published an article written by Outer Temple’s Jennifer Seaman on Guernsey’s recent controversial decision on the so-called ‘rule in Hastings-Bass’ in M v St Anne’s Trustees Limited. Her article explores the factual background of this case, and makes practical comments on the judgment. To see Jennifer’s arguments and to read the full article, please follow this link. Nicolas Stallworthy QC and Saaman Pourghadiri of Outer Temple Chambers have been advising in relation to the case and the pending appeal.
External Publications 16 Apr, 2018
On 28 March 2018, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Viavi v Shannan & Others, Re: the Wandel & Goltermann Retirement Benefits Scheme (“the Scheme”) [2018] EWCA Civ 681. The case concerned the validity of the substitution of a new principal employer for the Scheme in 1999/2000 and consequent questions as to whether subsequent deeds were validly executed by the correct employer company. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal from the order of Mr Timothy Fancourt QC (as he then was) in [2016] EWHC 1530 (Ch); [2016] Pens. L.R. 193, finding in favour of Mr Froude, the representative beneficiary. Nicolas Stallworthy QC & Simon Oakes of Outer Temple Chambers acted for Mr Froude, successfully defending the…
News 9 Apr, 2018
Landmark judgment handed down in IBM v Dalgeish – Court of Appeal allows IBM’s appeal against breach of duty of good faith ruling. Andrew Spink QC and Nicolas Stallworthy QC both act for respondents in the Court of Appeal. The litigation involved two occupational pension schemes established in the UK for IBM’s employees. The Court of Appeal has now allowed IBM’s appeal against Warren J’s “breach judgment” dated 4 April 2014, and dismissed the Representative Beneficiaries cross-appeal against one aspect of that judgment in which Warren J had found in favour of IBM. The judgment is available to read here.
News 4 Aug, 2017
On 27 June 2016, the High Court handed down an interesting (albeit unsurprising) decision on the substitution of principal employers and the validity of pension scheme deeds in Shannan & Ors v Viavi Solutions UK Limited & Ors, Re: the Wandel & Goltermann Retirement Benefits Scheme [2016] EWHC 1530 (Ch). The judgment is available to read here. Of central importance was the identity of the Scheme’s principal employer at various points in the Scheme’s history, all the way back to 1994. The wide-ranging judgment of Timothy Fancourt QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, examines issues including: the formalities required for the exercise of powers in particular a power to substitute the principal employer: Betafence Ltd v…
News 4 Jul, 2016
Nicolas Stallworthy QC and (for the first time) Farhaz Khan have been recognised as leading barristers for Dispute Resolution (Commercial Chancery) in Chambers Global 2016, which was published this month. Nicolas has been recognised by the directory for a number of years. Nicolas is “Frequently praised for the high standard of his pension practice, he also maintains an effective broad commercial caseload. He handles a range of matters including commercial trust, insolvency and professional negligence disputes.” Farhaz is said to: “Attracts a great deal of praise relating to his handling of complex banking and finance work. He is also involved in pensions matters.” Chambers Global covers over 190 countries across the world and also includes Region-wide and Global-wide sections. Each…
News 21 Mar, 2016
Following on from the liability judgment in the IBM Project Waltz proceedings which was handed down on 4th April 2014, a further lengthy and important judgment has been handed down that deals with the remedies available to members of the scheme. Outer Temple barristers Andrew Spink QC, Andrew Short QC and Saul Margo appeared for the Trustee whilst Nicolas Stallworthy QC and Lydia Seymour, also of Outer Temple, appeared on behalf of the Representative Beneficiaries. In the judgment, Warren J dealt in turn with each of the elements of Project Waltz that breached the “Imperial” duty of good faith and the contractual duty of trust and confidence. Warren J found in favour of the members on the vast majority of…
News 23 Feb, 2015
The Upper Tribunal (tax and chancery chamber) has published an important decision on disclosure and privilege in Contribution Notice reference proceedings before the Upper Tribunal. The decision will be of interest to pensions and financial services practitioners. Richard Hitchcock QC, Farhaz Khan and Saaman Pourghadiri act for the trustee. Nicolas Stallworthy QC acts for two of the targets.
News 20 Nov, 2014
A landmark judgment has been handed down in the IBM Project Waltz proceedings, in which Outer Temple silks Andrew Spink QC and Nicolas Stallworthy QC appeared for the Trustee of IBM’s two principal UK defined benefit pension schemes and the Representative Beneficiaries respectively. In 2009 IBM announced that, with effect from 2011, the two schemes would close to further benefit accrual, IBM UK’s longstanding early retirement policy would become much more restrictive and salary increases would only be offered in future to members of the schemes if they signed “Non Pensionability Agreements” (under which any such increases would not count as “pensionable salary” so as to feed into the calculation of their past service benefits). This controversial package of proposals,…
News 6 Apr, 2014
Three members of Outer Temple Chambers’ pensions team appeared before Sales J in the Chancery Division on 30 January 2013. MAN Truck and Bus UK Ltd applied successfully for summary judgment in its claim for rectification of the Rules of the MAN UK Pension Scheme. MAN is the latest in a series of successful claims for rectification of pension scheme documentation including IAC (involving, Richard Hitchcock, James Rickards, Keith Bryant and David Grant) and IBM (involving Andrew Spink QC and Nicolas Stallworthy QC). As well as confirming the appropriate legal test to be applied on an application for rectification of a pension scheme, the MAN case is notable in that it succeeded notwithstanding the delay of 13 years between discovery of…
News 31 Jan, 2013
Nick Stallworthy has been ranked in the 2012 Chambers & Partners Global Guide which is being launched on Friday 16th March. For over ten years, the Global Guide has researched the legal markets of over 180 countries, identifying the leading lawyers and law firms worldwide through interviews with thousands of lawyers and their clients. To be listed in this directory is a real achievement.
News 15 Feb, 2012
