The High Court has dismissed a substantial claim brought by a property developer, Morley Estates, against RBS.  Morley Estates had claimed that RBS forced it to transfer certain of its properties to West Register (a subsidiary of RBS) when it could not repay the £75 million loan which RBS had advanced.  Morley Estates alleged that RBS had applied economic duress and intimidation and had acted in breach of its duty of good faith.

Paul Sinclair QC and Natasha Bennett (instructed by Michael Barnett of Addleshaw Goddard) represented RBS in the three-week trial in November 2019 before Mr Justice Kerr.

Kerr J’s judgment available here (handed down on 27 January 2020), contains valuable discussion as to the elements of duress and intimidation and the extent of a bank’s duty of good faith when enforcing a loan.  There has been wide spread press-coverage of the judgment (see articles in the FT, BBC and the Telegraph).