Adam Kramer KC successfully defends Barclays Bank Plc in Henderson & Jones Limited v Ross and others
Adam Kramer KC has successfully defended Barclays Bank Plc against allegations of dishonest assistance and conspiracy following a 4-week trial in late 2022. In a judgment handed down today, Mr Justice Richard Smith has comprehensively dismissed all claims brought against Barclays, and a range of other defendants, which were said to arise from the corporate restructure of a private healthcare group to which Barclays provided banking facilities. The claimant, a professional litigation funder, alleged that the corporate restructure was intended to put assets beyond the reach of women who had received faulty PIP breast implants from the group and that Barclays, together with the group’s solicitors, had acted dishonestly in assisting the intra-group movement of assets and conspired to cause harm. Each element of those allegations was rejected by the Court, which held not only that the corporate restructure was for legitimate purposes but rejected any allegation of dishonest conduct by Barclays, and found that the transfers out of the relevant company were made for full value.
Adam, instructed by Sivan Daniels of Addleshaw Goddard LLP, also successfully resisted an interlocutory application earlier in the same proceedings for disclosure of Barclays’ privileged documents. The decision in Henderson & Jones Limited v David Jason Ross & Ors [2022] EWHC 2560 (Ch) explores the limits of the so-called Tatneft principle – arising from the decision in PJSC Tatneft v Bogolyubov [2020] EWHC 3225 (Comm) – whereby a litigant can respond to a claim made by another party in the litigation as to the contents of a privileged communication without giving rise to a waiver.
