Rathbones is facing further courtroom battles with its insurers relating to a Jersey trust that it sold in 2008.
The issue arises from a claim made in 2012 against a former director of the Rathbone Trust Company Jersey, now known as Hawksford Trust Company Jersey, over the management of the offshore trust.
The wealth manager then brought a suit against itsprofessional indemnity insurers to make sure it was covered for any “wrongful acts alleged in the Jersey proceedings”. In commercial court last month, the judge ruled that Rathbones was indeed covered by the insurance policy.
However, the judge had given the insurers the ‘right of subrogation’, whereby the insurers “could, upon payment of any sums to the employee, take over any rights of action which the employee might have against Rathbones” relating to an indemnity granted to him by Rathbones and the trust.
Rathbones has announced today that it is now issuing an appeal to get the subrogation decision overturned. At the same time, Rathbones has said its insurers have also taken out an appeal to dispute certain aspects of the judge’s ruling.
The firm said the hearings for both of these appeals are expected to take place at the Court of Appeal in the second half of 2014.
Rathbones had owned Rathbone Trust Company Jersey between 2000 and 2008 before offloading it for £28.5m in a management buyout.
As Hawksford, the firm now styles itself as a ‘wealth structuring’ business providing services for small and large corporates and ultra high net worth clients.
