Jersey legal claim to hang over Rathbones until 2014

The legal claim filed against a former director of Rathbone Brothers is set to hang over the firm until 2014.

The case is linked to a claim relating to the management of a Jersey trust. At the beginning of 2012 it was filed against a former director of Rathbone Trust Company Jersey Limited, which Rathbones owned between March 2000 and October 2008.

None of the investments in the trust were chosen or managed by Rathbones but the claim has been filed against three trustees, including a former Rathbones employee, because one of the underlying assets did not perform as well as expected.

As revealed by Wealth Manager in August last year, the firm had incurred legal expenses of £600,000 at that point and expected these to rise by £100,000 a month.

While the claim has cost Rathbones much less than expected – in the region of £800,000 to date – the firm said it could be next year before the underlying case goes to court.

Rathbones said: ‘A final date for the insurance claim has been set for autumn 2013, but the underlying case in Jersey is unlikely to be heard until 2014.’

Paul Stockton (pictured), Rathbones’ finance director, added the costs of the claim seemed to have slowed. He said the firm was managing it ‘as the court allows’.

Previously, Rathbones said it did not expect the claim to be successful, even if it took time to resolve.