Contract
Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd v Ivanishvili and others (Bermuda) [2025] UKPC 53
The Privy Council allowed the appellant Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd’s (‘CS Life’) appeal in part, but only regarding the start dates for the assessment of damages for breach of contract. The board dismissed CS Life’s appeal on all other grounds, affirming the findings of the Bermudian courts that CS Life had a contractual obligation to invest policy assets according to the discretionary mandate chosen by the policyholders, which it breached when the assets were instead fraudulently mismanaged by Patrice Lescaudron, a relationship manager at Credit Suisse AG. The board found that CS Life was liable for breach of contract but rejected CS Life’s arguments that it had no relevant contractual duties, that damages should be calculated differently, and that liability should end earlier. The board also dismissed the cross-appeal by the respondent the former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and other respondents seeking to restore the Chief Justice’s finding of fraudulent misrepresentation, holding that the claim was time-barred under Georgian law, which applied under Bermuda’s double actionability
