A Guide To Secondary Liability – Part One: Dishonest Assistance

Claimants who have been the victims of fraud often face the difficulty that the perpetrators have swiftly dissipated the assets.

This means that even if the claimant has a strong case with good evidence, actual recovery of the money or assets of which they have been defrauded may be either very slow and expensive, requiring asset tracing processes that incur significant professional fees, or at worst simply not possible. There may be little practical value in obtaining judgment against such a defendant when what the claimant really wants is to recover its losses. However, fraudsters often have not acted alone...

The fraud might have been facilitated by other parties. Careful thought as to who else might have been involved is worthwhile, as parties with secondary liability might be better able to pay an award of damages if the claimant wins. We published a three-part series on primary liability of multiple wrongdoers in the tort of conspiracy. This two-part series