Content area
Full text
Tort | Unlawful deceit
Chancery Division
21 December 2017
Nugee J
[2017] EWHC 3397 (Ch)
[2017] PLSCS 224
Tort - Unlawful deceit - Abuse of process - Penalty - Claimants complaining defendants unlawfully deceived them into entering loan agreement - Claimants seeking to set aside loan agreement for alleged fraud - Whether net asset statement being sought as formality - Whether defendants making unlawful threats - Whether defendants using litigation as improper means to force disadvantageous agreements - Whether claimants entitled to damages - Claim dismissed
In July 2011, the first claimant contracted, in the name of the second claimant, a company ultimately owned by him, to buy Grosvenor Gardens House (the property), a substantial Victorian mansion block on the edge of Belgravia for £42m, to convert it back from low-grade offices to high-class residential use. He lacked the necessary funds to complete and asked the first defendant for a loan of £12m. The first defendant discussed it with his brother, the second defendant, and the loan was made to the first claimant personally by the sixth defendant, a company owned ostensibly by the second defendant.
In November 2011, the sixth defendant asserted that the first claimant had failed to comply with the terms of the loan, failing to provide an acceptable statement showing net assets of £120m. Following an alleged further breach, the sixth defendant claimed to be entitled to immediate repayment of the £12m and a further £5.74m in interest, and required the first claimant to enter into a supplemental loan agreement acknowledging his breaches. The first claimant did so and made further agreements rescheduling...