David Head QC acts successfully in Pension Fund tax indemnity claim

3VB’s David Head QC was recently successful in obtaining summary judgment on behalf of BNYM, the trustee to the Railways Pension Scheme (“RailPen”). RailPen was the defendant to Commercial Court proceedings brought by the Almacantar Group, a property investment firm, seeking a contractual indemnity in respect of the Stamp Duty Land Tax arising out of an £85m West End property transaction concluded in 2011. In a written judgment handed down on 25 August 2021, Sir Ross Cranston held that the indemnity claim was brought outside the contractual time limits and that Almacantar’s arguments on implied terms, waiver and estoppel by convention had no real prospect of success.

David was instructed by Mills & Reeve Partner Rachel Higgs and Associate Abaigh Compton. A copy of the judgment can be found here.