Fiduciary Duties Flashcards
What are the 6 steps to approaching a FD problem question?
- Is there a FD?
- To who is it owed?
- What is the scope?
- Is there a prima facie breach?
- Is there a defence?
- What are the remedies?
What goes against the fiduciary duty (examples)
.Buy/sell trust property to themselves
.take commission for the “trouble”
.take advantage of their office
What are some cases for the need for control of discretion? (3)
.Keech v sandford
.ex p Lacey
.Emma silver mining co v grant
Keech v sandford facts
A child given a trust. An adult said they would be trustee until adulthood. They take up the lease as their own. Judge said to give it back to the child
Keech v sandford legal outcome
Putting the trustee’s interests before the beneficiary’s is not allowed. Can’t have a inflict of interest that will interfere with judgement
Ex p Lacey facts
Trustee in bankruptcy has to sell all the property in the person’s house for as high a profit as possible, but they want to buy something for themselves, so will not want to pay an unreasonably high price for it
Ex p Lacey legal outcome
Conflict of interest. Remedy is rescission. They have to put the money back into the trust and undo the wrongdoing
Emma silver mining co v grant facts
Company promoter took 20% commission secretly from vendors of a mine, in turn taking 20% away from the profits
Emma silver mining co v grant legal outcome
Breach of duty. Not in the best interests of the company
A quote about loyalty of a fiduciary
“A trustee is held to something stricter than the morals of the market place”- judge Cardozo
What case does the quote about loyalty of a fiduciary come from?
Meinhard v salmon
A quote about acting in best interests
“The essence of a fiduciary relationship, by contrast, is that one party pledges herself to act in the best interest of the other”- Chief Justice of Canada
What case does the quote about acting in best interest come from?
Carson enterprises ltd v boughton and co
What is the general consequence of breaching a FD?
The trustee must undo the wrongdoing
What are the two remedies to undo wrongdoing done by the breach of a FD?
.Disgorgement
.rescission
What is disgorgement?
If the trustee made a large profit from the trust, i is taken away from them
What is rescission?
The undoing of a transaction. If they buy the trust property, they transaction is taken back regardless of it there was no profit
What is remedial consistency?
Where the remedies for breaching a FD are the same and the outcome is equal to what it was before the breach was done (?)
What is a fiduciary relationship?
Where someone is put in a position of trust on behalf of a party and acts in their best interest
What case tells us that somebody has to be disloyal to breach a FD, rather than merely incompetent?
Bristol and West Building Society v Mothew
What does the case of Bristol and West Building Society v Mothew tell us?
somebody has to be disloyal to breach a FD, rather than merely incompetent?
What is the no conflict rule?
A fiduciary must not put her own interests ahead of the duty to her principle
Wright v Morgan facts
Self-dealing breaches the rule as the beneficiary is not involved in the transaction
IGNORE
Coles v trecothick facts
Fair dealing- trustee buys property from the beneficiary