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26 April 2012
Issue: 7596 / Categories: Case law , Law reports , In Court
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Limitation of action—Period of limitation—Fraudulent breach of trust

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Williams v Central Bank of Nigeria [2014] UKSC 10

Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger P, Lord Mance, Lord Clarke, Lord Sumption and Lord Hughes SCJJ, 19 February 2014

A stranger to a trust who is liable to account on the grounds of dishonest assistance in a breach of trust or knowing receipt of trust assets is not a trustee for the purposes of s 21(1)(a) of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980), nor does an action “in respect of” any fraud or fraudulent breach of trust to which the trustee was a party or privy include, for the purposes of the sub-section, an action against a party which is not itself a trustee. 

Guy Philipps QC & Edward Levey (instructed by Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP) for the bank. Jonathan Adkin QC (instructed by Alfred James & Co Solicitors LLP) for W.

The claimant claimed to be the victim of a fraud instigated by the Nigerian State Security Services in 1986. He alleged that he had

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