Garcia v Marex Financial Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 1468 is a cautionary tale of a creditor with a judgment against two companies being thwarted by their beneficial owner removing their assets from the jurisdiction before the judgments could be enforced. The creditor decided to sue the wrongdoer for the torts of knowingly inducing and procuring the two companies to act in wrongful violation of your and causing loss to you by unlawful means. But not so fast, what about the rule against recovery of ‘reflective loss’ established by the House of Lords in Johnson v Gore Wood [2002] 2 AC 1? The rule states that where a company suffers loss caused by a breach of duty owed to it, only the company may sue in respect of that loss. A claim is barred if the loss suffered by the claimant would have been made good by restoration of the company’s assets. The rule is subject to an exception in Giles v Rhind [2003] Ch 618, where as a consequence of the actions of the wrongdoer, the company no longer has a cause of action and it is impossible for it to bring a claim or for a claim to be brought in its name by a third party. Here, there was a clear breach of duty owed to the company by the beneficial owner who had asset stripped them.
But does the rule also apply to unsecured creditors of the company who are not its shareholders? Until now this question was undecided, but not any longer. In Garcia v Marex Financial Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 1468, the Court of Appeal have decided that the rule does apply to unsecured creditors of the company who are not its shareholders. On the facts the rule barred the action against the tortfeasor and the Giles v Rhind exception did not apply as the wrongdoing had not made it impossible for the companies to pursue a claim against the wrongdoer.
