Brudenell -Bruce v Moore & Ors
2014
CHANCERY DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- MR JUSTICE NEWEY
Areas of Law
- Equity and Trusts
2014
CHANCERY DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This case involves a dispute over the management of an estate in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, held in trust since 1951. The Earl of Cardigan challenged the remuneration and actions of trustees John Moore and Wilson Cotton, alleging various breaches of duty and seeking their removal. The case delved into complex familial ties, extensive historical background, and financial mismanagement issues. The court ruled that Moore must repay his remuneration and ordered the trustees to pay a total compensation of £64,225 for failing in specific duties. The court also decided on Moore's removal after the sale of Tottenham House while retaining Cotton as a trustee.
Judgment
Mr Justice Newey:
This case concerns an estate (“the Estate”) at Savernake Forest in Wiltshire that the family of the claimant, the Earl of Cardigan, has owned since soon after the Norman Conquest. The Estate is the subject of a trust established by a conveyance dated 29 September 1951 (“the Trust”) of which Lord Cardigan is a beneficiary. In these proceedings, Lord Cardigan challenges the remuneration that the first and second defendants, respectively Mr John Moore and Mr Wilson Cotton, have received as the present trustees of the Trust and alleges a variety of other breaches of duty by them. He also seeks an order for the removal of Mr Moore and Mr Cotton (“the Trustees”) as the trustees of the Estate.
The context
The family
Lord Cardigan is the son of the 8 th Marquess of Ailesbury, who is now in his 80s. A younger half-brother of the Marquess, Lord Charles Brudenell-Bruce, also features in events relevant to the proceedings before me. Lord Charles is a year or two older than Lord Cardigan, who is himself 61.
Lord Cardigan married in 1980, and the couple had two children, Viscount Savernake (who is now aged 32) and Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce (who is 29 years old). Lord Cardigan and his first wife were, however, divorced in March 2009, and his first wife died of cancer on 4 July 2012.
Lord Cardigan re-married in 2011, and a year or so ago he became a father for the third time.
The Estate
The Estate includes a number of houses. Much the largest of them is Tottenham House, which was largely rebuilt in the 1820s for the 1 st Marquess of Ailesbury. The family lived in the property until the Second World War, but in 1946 it was let for use as a preparatory school before being used by a charity called the Amber Foundation. Since about 2005, the house has lain empty, except that a Ms Prue Chetwynd-Talbot was employed as a caretaker for a period.
There is a large stable block adjacent to Tottenham House and a gardener’s cottage nearby. Like Tottenham House, the gardener’s cottage is at present unoccupied.
The next largest properties on the Estate are (in order of approximate value) Savernake Lodge (where Lord Cardigan is living), Sturmy House (which is vacant) and Little Lye Hill Cottage (which is occupied by Lord Charles Brudenell-Bruce and his wife). Ten or so smaller residential properties are also still comprised within the Estate, as are an estate office and yard.
As well as buildings, the Estate includes about 3,950 acres of woodla