Athene Legal were instructed in a highly complex series of appeals and cross-appeals in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council – on appeal from the Guernsey Court of Appeal and, prior to that, the Royal Court of Guernsey.
The case concerned proceedings which were commenced in Guernsey by the then trustees of a trust. It was for a declaration that they were not personally liable to repay loans which they had taken from companies in the trust structure and which joint liquidators had been appointed over. The joint liquidators counterclaimed for repayment of the loans. The Privy Council proceedings concerned no fewer than eight interlinking appeals.
We were instructed on behalf of the paying party trustees to challenge the receiving party’s five bills of costs – each relating to different appeals and totalling over £2m. The main question in the costs proceedings was one of quantum, as opposed to technical costs issues. We assisted our client with the preparation of five sets of points of dispute, robustly drafted and setting out the paying party’s arguments clearly and concisely.
As is often our strategy, we also:
- Undertook our own assessment of the bills of costs
- Advised our client on the reasonableness of the costs claimed
- Provided our view on quantum by way of a settlement bracket
This ensured that our client was well equipped to take forward the settlement discussions with the receiving party. Fortunately, a settlement was achieved without the need for a detailed assessment hearing.
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