Trusts Update - Freeman v Ansbacher

In an important judgment, the Deputy Bailiff of the Royal Court of Jersey has clarified the Jersey law position in relation to two points. Firstly, whether the object of a mere power has standing to sue for breach of trust against trustees. Secondly, whether the principle of 'reflective loss' is directly applicable to a discretionary trust which wholly owns a company.

THE OBJECT OF A MERE POWER

The application in the present case was a strike out application by Ansbacher Trustees (Jersey) Limited against the Plaintiffs, Sarah Daile Freeman, Robert Keith Freeman and Rosanna Freeman. The order of justice claimed several causes of action for breach of trust and negligence.

The Deputy Bailiff found that the first two plaintiffs' claims were statutorily time barred by Article 57(2) (b) of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 (as amended). The plaintiffs had been adults at all material time and had knowledge of the occurrence of the alleged breaches of trust for more than