Pensioners defeat jurisdiction challenge to claim for investment losses against Gibraltar-based trustee company (Dooley v Castle Trust)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Pensions analysis: The Court of Appeal unanimously held that members of two Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (‘QROPS’), who had transferred pensions into the schemes allegedly on the advice of unregulated third party introducers, are able to pursue their claims for investment losses against the schemes’ trustee and administrator, Castle Trust & Management Services Ltd (‘Castle’), a regulated trustee company registered and domiciled in Gibraltar: the court ruled that the members had a good arguable case that their claims fell within Article 13(3) of the 1968 Brussels Convention (‘the Brussels Convention’) and so could be litigated in the UK. The case serves as a reminder that offshore pension providers are not immune from the current wave of domestic claims seeking to fix regulated firms with liability for alleged pension ‘scams’. Written by Henry Day, barrister at Radcliffe Chambers.