Strike out / summary judgment application fails

After a 5-day hearing the judge dismissed the application, finding that strike out or summary judgment is inappropriate where the applicant seeks determinations on issues of fact where a hearing would be very lengthy, and where the directors’ explanations apparently conflicted with contemporaneous documents.

In a lengthy judgment, Freedman J also considered the law around fiduciary duties and held that there was a real prospect of establishing that even though the director’s office had ceased when the company was wound up, his continuing involvement in aspects of its management meant that he owed continuing fiduciary duties.

Akkurate Limited (in Liquidation), Short & Illes v Richmond & Schofield [2023]