Grupo Torras SA v Bank of Butterfield Intl (Cayman) Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Cayman Islands
• Judge: (Smellie, C.J.)
• Judgment Date: 08 October 2001
• Date: 08 October 2001
• Court: Grand Court (Cayman Islands)

Grand Court

(Smellie, C.J.)

GRUPO TORRAS S.A.

and

BANK OF BUTTERFIELD INTERNATIONAL- (CAYMAN) LIMITED and NINE OTHERS

Attorneys: Charles Adams, Ritchie & Duckworth for the plaintiff; Hunter & Hunter and Walkers for the first to ninth defendants.

Trusts-tracing actions-discovery-use in related foreign proceedings

The plaintiff applied for a limited release from its undertaking given in earlier proceedings (2000 CILR 452) not to use material obtained by discovery for purposes other than the present Cayman proceedings. It sought to use specific documents in proceedings in Jersey to show that the settlor of trusts in the Cayman Islands, Jersey and other jurisdictions had used the trusts to judgment-proof his assets against the plaintiff”s claims to the proceeds of a proven fraud. The proposed use was to be confined to assisting a particular type of fraud action under Jersey law and would not extend to use in other non-proprietary claims before the Jersey courts. The plaintiff undertook not to use the discovered material for those purposes and not to seek to rely in the Cayman proceedings on any findings of the Jersey court adverse to the Cayman trust.

Held: (1) The court would exercise its discretion to relax the undertaking given by the plaintiff in these exceptional circumstances (Hoyes v. Gas Monitoring Inc. Cayman, 1994–95 CILR 504, applied). In view of the limited purpose for which the material was to be used and the undertakings given by the plaintiff, the court was satisfied that such a relaxation was justified. The plaintiff had demonstrated that the specific documents in question (relating to the establishment of the Cayman trust and the transfer of assets to it from the Bahamas on the settlor”s instructions) were relevant to show a common modus operandi on the settlor”s part to defeat his...