Calyon v Michailaidis & Ors (Gibraltar)

Calyon v Michailaidis & Ors (Gibraltar) [2009] UKPC 34 (15 July 2009)

Privy Council Appeal No 55 of 2008

Calyon (a company incorporated

under the laws of the Republic of France) Appellant

v.

(1) Irene Michailaidis

(2) Jonathan Guy Anthony Phillips

(3) Robert Andrew Harland (suing as Administrator

of the Estate of Christo Michailidis) Respondents

FROM

THE COURT OF APPEAL OF

GIBRALTAR

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JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL

COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Delivered the 23^rd July 2009

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Present at the hearing:-

Lord Rodger of Earlsferry

Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood

Lord Mance

Sir Henry Brooke

Sir Robin Auld

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[Delivered by Lord Rodger of Earlsferry]

In the Paris of the 1920s and 1930s Eileen Gray designed and made furniture in a style which would today be described as "Art Deco". Subsequently, her work was neglected until, towards the end of her long life, in the 1970s her designs came to be recognised as classics and the value of her furniture rose accordingly. This appeal concerns the ownership of one collection of her furniture.

Christo Michailidis ("Christo") came from a Greek shipping family, his father being Alexander Joseph Michailidis, who died in 1995, and his mother being Irene Michailidis ("Mrs Michailidis"), who is the first claimant in the present proceedings. His sister is Despina Papadimitriou ("Mrs Papadimitriou"). Members of the family have long been interested in collecting art and antiquities. From about the 1970s Christo lived with Robin Symes, a prominent dealer in antiquities, in a house (formerly two houses) at 1/3 Seymour Walk in Kensington. That was the position when, on 5 July 1999, Christo died as a result of a fall during a dinner party in a villa in Umbria. At the time of his death he was domiciled in Greece and under Greek Law Mrs Michailidis and Mrs Papadimitriou were his heirs. In February 2001 the second and third claimants, Jonathan Guy Anthony Phillips and Robert Andrew Harland, were appointed administrators of Christo's estate in England ("the administrators").

Christo's untimely death was to lead to a web of intricate and hard-fought litigations in various jurisdictions concerning the affairs of his family and Mr Symes. For instance, a case in the English courts, relating to a statue of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhenaten, reached the House of Lords on a procedural point: Phillips and Another v Symes and Others [2008] UKHL 1; [2008] 1 WLR 180. There was also litigation in the Isle of Man about the Seymour Walk house, title to which was vested in a Panamanian company, with the shares being held under an Isle of Man trust: Papadimitriou and Michailidis and Ledger (IOM) Trustee Company, Chancery Division, 18 September 2002. So the present case…

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