Wealthy man’s stripped back negligence claim against Clyde & Co ‘must go to trial’

A wealthy businessman’s stripped-back claim against Clyde & Co ‘must go to trial’ after a judge threw out his case against two XXIV Old Buildings barristers.

Riad Tawfiq Al Sadik, who owns the largest construction and engineering company in the UAE, filed a professional negligence against City law firm Clyde & Co, barristers Michael Black KC and Marcus Staff and offshore law firm Harney Westwood and Riegels.

Al Sadik has been in a brawl with private equity giant Investcorp for over a decade after he decided to invest AED500m (£109,000) into a special purpose vehicle with Investcorp in March 2008, shortly before the global financial crisis broke out. He did this after he sold 45 per cent of his shares in Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises in 2007 for AED1.2bn (£261.5m).

He went on to make several allegations against Investcorp, including that group had fraudulently misrepresented the nature of the investment and had acted without authority and in breach of trust.

The litigation he took against Investcorp spanned more than 10 years across the Cayman Islands, Privy Council, and Dubai, with litigation proceedings in England. Despite this, he was unsuccessful in his claims against the private equity group in all jurisdictions.

This led him to sue his legal team, which consisted of Clyde & Co, the barristers and Harney Westwood and Riegels. He alleged that shortly before the trial of the Investcorp claim, proposed amendments to his claim had been disallowed because they had been applied for too late. He alleged that his legal team had been negligent in not pursuing the amendments earlier.

He also sued in relation to advice from Clydes and the barristers, which he said failed to warn him of the possibility of an anti-suit injunction after he lost in the Privy Council and sought to re-litigate the Investcorp claim in Dubai.

The parties went to a hearing in early March for preliminary issues on limitation together with applications for reverse summary judgment. Gatehouse Chambers Nigel Jones KC was the leading barrister for Al Sadik, who was instructed by Keystone Law.

The defence lined up Ian Croxford KC (by RPC) for Clydes, Charles Hollander KC (by DAC Beachcroft) for the barristers and Alain Choo-Choy KC (by Mishcon de Reya) for the offshore firm.

On Friday, Deputy Judge Sean O’Sullivan KC, found that the claims against the two barristers and the offshore firm “are time-barred”. He concluded on the reamendment application, those claims have no real prospect of success and all of the defendants are entitled to reverse summary judgment.

He ruled the claim against Black KC in relation to advice given that the risk of an anti-suit injunction is “hopeless” and he is entitled to reverse summary judgment.

However, Judge O’Sullivan KC said this “leaves only the claim against [Clyde & Co] in that latter regard”, as he refused the application for reverse summary judgment as he held “that the same must go to trial”.

He explained in his judgment that [Al Sadik] “does have a real prospect of succeeding on his claim against [Clyde & Co] in relation to the advice given (or not given) about the risk of an anti-suit injunction.”

“The issue as to whether there was a break in the chain of causation at or after the point at which [Clyde & Co] ceased to act for [Al Sadik] is not suitable for summary disposal. That claim must go to trial,” he added.

Commenting on the decision, a spokesperson for Clyde & Co said “We are aware of today’s judgment and are pleased that, save for one, all of the significant claims against us were dismissed. We have always held that they were without merit and we will defend the remaining claim; as that claim remains before the court we will say nothing further about it at this time.”

The barristers and Harney Westwood and Riegels were contacted for comment.

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