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Lambie Trustee Ltd v Addleman

Lambie Trustee Ltd v Addleman

Case [2021] NZSC 54 1 June 2021

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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND

I TE KŌTI MANA NUI

SC 118/2019
[2021] NZSC 54

BETWEEN	LAMBIE TRUSTEE LIMITED Appellant
AND	PRUDENCE ANNE ADDLEMAN Respondent

Hearing: Further memoranda filed:	2 December 2020 10 May 2021
Court:	William Young, Glazebrook, O’Regan, Ellen France and Williams JJ
Counsel:	D A T Chambers QC and J M McGuigan for Appellant A S Ross QC and R A Rose for Respondent
Judgment:	1 June 2021

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

AWith the clarification that the orders for disclosure made by the Court of Appeal do not extend to legal advice given from June 2015 in connection with this litigation and with leave reserved to Lambie Trustee Ltd to revert to this Court in relation to advice received after 7 November 2014 and before June 2015, the appeal is dismissed.
BCosts are reserved.

____________________________________________________________________

REASONS
(Given by William Young J)

Table of Contents

Para No.
The appeal	[1]
The factual background	[12]
The Jamieson family	[12]
Ms Jamieson’s accident	[13]
The Howick development	[14]
The Lambie Trust	[18]
Transactions affecting the Lambie Trust and changes of trustee	[23]
The “memorandum of wishes”	[26]
Distribution to Mrs Addleman	[27]
Mrs Addleman’s requests for trust information	[28]
The Court of Appeal’s evaluation of the “sole funding” and “sole purpose” contentions	[31]
What advice is subject to the disclosure order?	[38]
General principles as to disclosure by a trustee of trustee information to beneficiaries and their application to this case	[41]
Disclosure and discovery	[41]
Terminology: “trustee information”, “personal information” and “disclosable information”	[43]
Trustee information	[47]
Personal information	[50]
Disclosable information	[53]
The effect of the Court of Appeal judgment and our leave decision	[60]
Is disclosure precluded by legal professional privilege?	[63]
The issues	[63]
The Evidence Act provisions	[65]
Common interest privilege	[69]
Joint privilege	[70]
The joint interest exception	[72]
The approaches adopted in the High Court and Court of Appeal	[76]
A new approach to joint interest?	[78]
Legal advice given to the trustees relating to the general administration of the trust, including the distribution to Mrs Addleman in 2002	[82]
Legal advice given to the trustees as to what documents should be disclosed to Mrs Addleman	[83]
Legal advice given to Lambie Trustee Ltd for the purposes of this litigation	[95]
Costs	[100]
Disposition	[103]

The appeal

This appeal arises out of a dispute between two sisters, Annette Jamieson and Prudence Addleman. It concerns the Lambie Trust. The sole trustee is Lambie Trustee Ltd, a company which Ms Jamieson controls. Ms Jamieson and Mrs Addleman are both beneficiaries. In issue is the extent to which legal advice received by the Trust should be disclosed to Mrs Addleman.
In proceedings commenced on 16 June 2015, Mrs Addleman sought disclosure of a wide range of trust documents. This extended to:
… all legal opinions and other advice obtained by the trustees for the purposes of the Trust Fund and funded from the…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Lambie Trustee Ltd v Addleman

Details

AGLC: Lambie Trustee Ltd v Addleman [2021] NZSC 54
Case: [2021] NZSC 54
Decision Date: 1 June 2021

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The appeal was between Lambie Trustee Limited and Prudence Addleman. The dispute was in relation to the Lambie Trust and whether legal advice given to the trust should be disclosed to Addleman. The appeal was dismissed, with leave reserved to Lambie Trustee Ltd to revert to the Court in relation to advice received after 7 November 2014 and before June 2015. Costs were reserved. The court discussed the principles relating to disclosure by trustees of information to beneficiaries and the circumstances in which disclosure may be precluded by legal professional privilege. The court noted that the joint interest exception to legal professional privilege applied to the legal advice in issue, and therefore Lambie Trustee Ltd was not entitled to claim privilege against Addleman. The court also noted that the joint interest exception may cease to apply prior to litigation being commenced, for instance where the parties have reached the point in which their positions are sufficiently conflicting to justify the conclusion that the trustees are taking advice for the purpose of resisting claims or demands by the beneficiary.

Orders