Breach of fiduciary duty and wilful fraud in Will trust

Barnsley and Others v Noble (2016) 30 TRU 07 1, [2016] EWCA Civ 799, 2 August 2016

The Court of Appeal considered issues of conflict of interest and breaches of trust by the executors of the Will of Michael Noble, consisting of Philip Noble (brother), Gillian Noble (widow) and John Barnsley (accountant). Philip and Gill each agreed to demerge and take the business side and property side of the Noble Organisation respectively, and negotiations were conducted between Philip and Mr Barnsley. After the demerger, Mr Barnsley and Gill felt that they had been misled by Philip in respect of the value of VAT repayment claims available to the business side.