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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court) Decisions >> Markel International Insurance Company Ltd v Surety Guarantee Consultants Ltd & Ors [2008] EWHC 3087 (Comm) (17 December 2008) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2008/3087.html Cite as: [2008] EWHC 3087 (Comm) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
COMMERCIAL COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
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Claim No.2006 Folio 1287 MARKEL INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Claimants and |
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(1) SURETY GUARANTEE CONSULTANTS LIMITED (2) TIMOTHY PATRICK THOMAS HIGGINS (3) BARRY WILLIAMS (4) CLIFFORD EDWARD FELSTEAD (5) RALPH BRUNSWICK (6) GENERAL COMMERCIAL LIMITED Defendants AND Claim No.2007 Folio 67 QBE INSURANCE (EUROPE) LIMITED AMALFI UNDERWRITING LIMITED Claimants and (1) SURETY GUARANTEE CONSULTANTS LIMITED (2) TIMOTHY PATRICK THOMAS HIGGINS (3) BARRY WILLIAMS (4) CLIFFORD EDWARD FELSTEAD (5) RALPH BRUNSWICK (6) GENERAL COMMERCIAL LIMITED Defendants |
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Derrick Dale (instructed by Davies Arnold Cooper) for QBE and Amalfi
Ben Quiney for the Second Defendant (instructed by Hannah & Mould)
The Third Defendant represented himself
The other Defendants were not represented
Hearing dates: 8-9 December 2008
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr. Justice Teare :
i) The sums in which claims on unauthorised bonds have been settled.ii) An indemnity in respect of future claims.
iii) Premium on unauthorised bonds which have produced no claims.
iv) Costs of investigating claims
v) Interest.
Issue 1: Are the Claimants entitled as a matter of law to the remedy of an indemnity against future losses ?
Issue 2: Are the Defendants prevented from pursuing one or any of their allegations in defence of the claims on the basis that the issue has already been determined and/or that it is too late to raise it for the first time ? If so, to which of the issues set out herein does this apply ?
Issue 3: On the issue of causation:
"3.1 Are Mr. Higgins, Mr. Felstead and Mr. Brunswick liable to pay damages/equitable compensation in respect of all of the unauthorised bonds identified in the Judgment or some only. If some only, which ones ?"
"3.2 Is Mr. Williams liable to pay damages/equitable compensation in respect of all the unauthorised bonds that he signed as identified in the judgment or some only? If some only, which ones? Should the fact that Mr. Williams has not been found liable for conspiracy affect the level of equitable compensation that he is to pay?
"Mr. Williams was not party to that conspiracy but in my judgment he also acted in breach of his fiduciary duty to Markel and QBE/Amalfi. For the reasons I have given he cannot honestly have believed that what he was doing was an accepted way of doing business. When signing bonds in excess of the stated limits he was reckless as to the rights and interests of Markel and QBE/Amalfi. This was not mere incompetence, which would not amount to a breach of fiduciary duty. It plainly crossed the line. He neither acted honestly nor in the best interests of Markel and QBE/Amalfi."
"Mr. Williams did not share the aim of Mr. Higgins and Mr. Felstead to make secret profits. However, he nevertheless acted in breach of his own fiduciary duty and that breach of duty enabled the secret profits to be made. But for his breach of fiduciary duty the secret profits would not have been made. He is therefore liable in respect of those secret profits albeit that he did not receive or seek to receive them himself."
"The question whether Mr. Williams is liable in respect of the gross premium which gave rise to those secret profits will be determined at the Inquiry as to relief."
"But for his breach of fiduciary duty the secret profits would not have been made. The question whether Mr. Williams is liable in respect of the gross premium which gave rise to those secret profits will be determined at the Inquiry as to relief."
Issue 10: On the Schedule 1 Sections 2 and 3 bonds, are the withheld premiums claimed recoverable from the Defendants as damages and/or equitable compensation as a matter of law.
Issue 4: In order to recover equitable compensation for dishonest assistance, is it necessary as a matter of law for the Claimants to prove that the sums claimed arise from assisting a payment made in breach of fiduciary duty or is it sufficient that they arise from assisting a breach of fiduciary duty? If the former, can the Claimants prove that?
Issue 5: On the issue of monies held by third parties:
5.1 Do the Claimants have a proprietary interest in any money held by SGC and/or Templeton and/or GCL?
5.2 If so, are the Claimants obliged to:
5.2.1 seek to recover such monies in order to mitigate their claim against the Defendant; and/or
5.2.2 set-of such monies against any damages they seek to recover?
"broad merits-based judgment which takes account of the public and private interests involved and also takes account of all the facts of the case, focusing attention on the crucial question whether, in all the circumstances, a party is misusing or abusing the process of the court by seeking to raise before it the issue which could have been raised before."
Issue 7: On the role of Peter Smith:
7.1 Did he fail to exercise care in protecting the interest of the Claimants as alleged ?
7.2 If so, does this failure represent a break in the chain of causation ?
Issue 9: On Curzon: Should Markel only be entitled to recover the element of the bond claim that was unlawfully in excess of the SGC binder (ie the balance above the £1m authority under the binder)?