Bouchier v Booth; Re Tiuta International Limited [2023]

Niall McCulloch and Mairi Innes have successfully obtained a judgment of £28.8 million against the directors and controllers of the “Tiuta” bridge lending group following a 5-week trial. Niall and Mairi acted for Geoff Bouchier and Paul Williams of Kroll, the joint liquidators of Tiuta International Limited (“the Company”).

On 13 December 2023 Charles Morrison, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, handed down his judgment in Bouchier v Booth; Re Tiuta International Limited [2023] EWHC 3195 (Ch). In that judgment the former directors of the Company are held to have carried on the business of the Company fraudulently (under section 213 of the Insolvency Act 1986), defrauding a regulated investment fund, and to have acted in fraudulent breach of their fiduciary duties to the Company, using a subsidiary of a Plc to refinance a toxic debt portfolio during the financial crisis of 2008.

The decision provides a useful framework for officeholders wishing to bring a claim under the fraudulent trading provisions under section 213, and highlights the flexibility and scope of the court’s powers under that section.