Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd (Respondent) v Bidzina Ivanishvili and 6 others (Appellants) No 2 (Bermuda)

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2024/0035

Jurisdiction

Bermuda

Parties

Appellant(s)

(1) Bidzina Ivanishvili

(2) Meadowsweet Assets Ltd

(3) Sandcay Investments Ltd

Respondent(s)

Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd

Issue

On the correct interpretation of the policies, what contractual obligations did CS Life owe to the policyholder? Did the Respondents choose a discretionary mandate as their investment alternative? What measure should the Chief Justice have adopted as the measure of investment performance if CS Life had complied with its contractual duty of investment? What are the correct start and end dates for the assessment of damages for breach of the contractual duty of investment? Did CS Life owe fiduciary duties to the Respondents after the policies commenced?

Facts

CS Life, a Bermuda insurance company, was a subsidiary of Credit Suisse AG (the “Bank”). The 1st Respondent, Mr Ivanishvili, is a successful businessman and the former Prime Minister of Georgia. From around 2005, Mr Ivanishvili invested substantial sums with the Bank. In 2011 and 2012, on the Bank’s advice, Mr Ivanishvili restructured some of these investments with the Bank into premiums for two life insurance policies. These premiums were to be held by CS Life in a separate account. Mr Ivanishvili had a choice whether the premiums were to be invested on a discretionary or non-discretionary basis. In 2015 Mr Ivanishvili discovered that his relationship manager at Credit Suisse, Mr Lescaudron, had been dealing fraudulently with the policy assets. In 2018 Mr Lescaudron was convicted of criminal offences and later committed suicide. Mr Ivansishvili, certain members of his family (the 2nd to 5th Respondents) and the investment companies who held the relevant insurance policies (the 6th and 7th Respondents) brought proceedings against CS Life for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty in 2017. They later added a claim for damages for fraudulent misrepresentation. These claims succeeded before the Chief Justice of Bermuda who awarded the Respondents US $607m. The Court of Appeal dismissed CS Life’s appeal against the award of damages for breach of contract, but allowed the appeal in relation to the misrepresentation claim. CS Life now appeals to the Privy Council against the decisions relating to breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The Respondents have cross-appealed against the dismissal of the misrepresentation claim.

Date of issue

25 April 2024

Linked cases

Appeal

Justices

Lord Hodge

Lord Briggs

Lord Leggatt

Lord Richards

Lady Simler

Hearing dates

Full hearing

Start date

16 June 2025

End date

19 June 2025

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