Alan Paul Booth (Appellant) v The Viscount of the Royal Court of Jersey (Respondent) (Jersey)

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2025/0109

Jurisdiction

Jersey

Parties

Appellant(s)

Alan Booth

Respondent(s)

The Viscount of the Royal Court of Jersey

Issue

Where an individual is declared bankrupt in Jersey, is the bankruptcy official under a duty to return undistributed property to the individual after the bankruptcy is discharged?

Facts

The Appellant was declared bankrupt on 16 October 2015. Under the Bankruptcy (Désastre) (Jersey) Law 1990, this meant that his property vested in the Viscount as the official responsible for distributing his assets among his creditors. That property included any claims that the Appellant may have against third parties. This appeal concerns one such claim, namely a claim against a valuer in respect of a valuation of one of the Appellant’s properties in 2013. Under this claim, the Appellant alleges that the valuer negligently undervalued his property. The Viscount refused to pursue this claim during the course of the bankruptcy, considering it to be without merit. The Appellant was discharged from his bankruptcy in 3 January 2020. Since then, the Viscount has not reassigned the claim to the Appellant. The Appellant brought proceedings in the Royal Court of Jersey, arguing that the Viscount had acted unlawfully and breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to pursue the claim. The Royal Court of Jersey rejected these arguments. The Appellant then appealed to the Jersey Court of Appeal, arguing that the Viscount was under a duty to reassign the claim to the Appellant upon discharge of the bankruptcy. The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the Appellant, having failed to raise this argument in an earlier set of proceedings in 2022, could not raise it now. The Court of Appeal also held, by a majority, that the Viscount was under no duty to reassign the claim to the Appellant. The Appellant now appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Date of issue

7 November 2025

Case origin

PTA

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