Sevilleja (Respondent) v Marex Financial Ltd (Appellant)

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Case summary
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Appeal
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Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2018/0178

Parties

Appellant(s)

Marex Financial Ltd

Respondent(s)

Carlos Sevilleja Garcia (‘Mr Sevilleja’)

Intervener(s)

All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking

Issue

Whether the rule against reflective loss bars creditors of a company from claiming directly against a third party for asset-stripping the company.

Facts

Marex accuses Mr Sevilleja of asset-stripping two companies so that they were unable to pay their judgment debt to Marex, by transferring money from their bank accounts in this jurisdiction into his personal control. Marex says that in doing so, Mr Sevilleja, who is not resident in this jurisdiction, committed a tort. On this basis, it obtained permission to serve proceedings on him out of the jurisdiction. Mr Sevilleja challenged the validity of service, and the court’s jurisdiction. He says that the rule against reflective loss bars Marex from showing a completed cause of action in tort. The rule bars a party who has suffered loss through a reduction in value of their interest in a company from claiming directly against the person who caused the loss to the company, rather than letting the company make the claim. This appeal raises the question of how far the rule applies to creditors.

Date of issue

24 August 2018

Judgment appealed

[2018] EWCA Civ 1468

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Judgment details

Judgment date

15 July 2020

Neutral citation

[2020] UKSC 31

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15 July 2020

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15 July 2020

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15 July 2020

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