Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd & Ors v Fattal & Ors, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, November 29, 2007, [2007] EWHC 2808 (Ch)

Reporting Judge: [2007] EWHC 2808 (Ch)

President: Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd & Ors v Fattal & Ors

Linked as:

Extract

Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd & Ors v Fattal & Ors, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, November 29, 2007, [2007] EWHC 2808 (Ch)

Neutral Citation Number: [2007] EWHC 2808 (Ch)

Case No: HC 06 C02877

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

CHANCERY DIVISION

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 29/11/2007

Before :

THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE HENDERSON

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Between :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mr T Seymour (instructed by Fladgate Fielder) for the Claimants

Mr G Bompas QC and Mr T Evans (instructed by Memery Crystal) for the First to Third Defendants

Ms E Talbot Rice (instructed by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain) for the Fourth to Sixth Defendants

Hearing dates: 10, 11, 12, 15 and 16 October 2007

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

JudgmentThe Honourable Mr Justice Henderson :

Introduction and Background

1. This is my judgment on the preliminary issue which I directed to be tried, in advance of all other questions, at the pre-trial review held on 14 September 2007. The issue was framed in the following terms:

``Whether a sale was made in 1998 by Interlands SA, or by the personal representatives of the late Selim Dangoor, to Niazi Dangoor of the beneficial interest (held by Interlands SA or Selim Dangoor or his personal representatives, as the case may be) in the membership rights of Baker Street Limited.''

2. The general substantive and procedural background to the case is conveniently set out in the judgment delivered by Sir Francis Ferris on 22 June 2007, to which reference may be made for an overview of the present dispute. Reference may also be made to the judgment which I gave at the pre-trial review for a brief explanation of the circumstances in which I ordered the preliminary issue to be tried. I will aim to confine my findings of fact in this judgment to those which are necessary for determination of the preliminary issue.

3. Berkeley Court is a substantial mansion block of flats, with commercial units on the ground floor and a basement used mainly for parking and storage. It stands on an island site on the north side of the Marylebone Road, London NW1, at the junction with Baker Street. The registered proprietor of Berkeley Court has at all material times been the seventh defendant, a UK company called Berkeley Court Investments Limited (``BCIL'').

4. Berkeley Court was acquired in 1989 by a consortium of four persons or groups of persons under a Joint Venture Agreement dated 30 January 1989 (``the JVA''). The four participators in the JVA were:

(a) the trustees of a Jersey trust known as the Delta Trust;

(b) the trustees of another Jersey trust known as the E. M. Sofaer Discretionary Trust (``the Sofaer Trust'');

(d) Mr William Simon Fattal and his brother Mr Elias Simon Fattal.

5. At the date of the JVA, the first claimant Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd was the sole trustee of the Delta Trust. Together with two individuals, it was also a trustee of the Sofaer Trust. The principal beneficiaries of the Delta Trust were, and are, the branch of the Dangoor family headed by Mr Naim Dangoor, who was one of the six children of Eliahu Dangoor and a grandson of Ezra Dangoor. Naim Dangoor was a brother of Selim Dangoor, the third participator in the JVA. He was also a brother of Doreen Dangoor (``Doreen''), who plays an important part in the dispute which I have to resolve.

6. Naim Dangoor's eldest son is Mr David A E Dangoor, who also features in the present dispute and gave evidence before me. I will refer to him as David Dangoor, or sometimes just as David. His first cousin, Selim Dangoor's eldest child and only son, is Mr David E R Dangoor, whom I shall call David E R Dangoor in order to avoid confusion.

7. Ezra Dangoor had another son, Sion, who in turn had ten children. Those children were therefore first cousins of Naim, Selim and Doreen Dangoor. Two of them are important for present purposes, Mr Albert Dangoor (``Albert'') and Mr Niazi Dangoor (``Niazi''). Albert married his cousin, Doreen, and they had two children, Robert Dangoor (who is the sixth defendant) and Sandra Dangoor. Niazi lived in Israel and died without issue in February 2000. He is the Niazi Dangoor referred to in the formulation of the preliminary issue as the alleged purchaser of (in broad terms) Selim Dangoor's original one quarter beneficial share in the Joint Venture in the form which it took in 1998.

8. William and Elias Fattal are respectively the first and second defendants, and it is convenient to refer to them together as the Fattals, or the Fattal defendants. The latter term also includes the third defendant, Rysaffe Trustee Company (C. I.) Limited, which has been a co-trustee since July 2003 of two settlements which the Fattals made of their interests under the JVA in 1989. The original trustees of those settlements were, and continue to be, the first claimant (Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd) and the second claimant, which is a company incorporated in ...

See the full content of this document