ALHAMRANI ASSESSMENTS; APPEALS; AMENDMENT OF NOTICE OF APPEAL FROM THE JG AND ADMISSION OF FRESH EVIDENCE

Representation of Geneva Trust Company SA [2025] JCA 058

This was an appeal to the Court of Appeal (JCA) against the refusal of the Royal Court (RC) to give leave for the late amendment of a notice of appeal from an Alhamrani assessment made by the Judicial Greffier (JG) to the RC, to file a notice of appeal out of time and for the admission of further evidence for the appeal to the RC.

The JCA reiterated the basic principles regarding an Alhamrani assessment of a trustee’s costs and expenses.

The JCA observed that there are too many appeals to the JCA of the present kind, seeking to reverse interlocutory decisions on essentially case management matters. Refusal of leave to amend was still a case management matter.

The correct test on an appeal from the JG to the RC in relation to an Alhamrani assessment was that set out in Downes v Marshall [2010] JLR 265 as further applied in Incat Equatorial Guinea Ltd v Luba Freeport Ltd [2010] JLR 435. The case was not a tyee of case in which a de novo appeal from the JG applied, unlike Murphy v Collins [2000] JLR 276. Accordingly, the test on such an appeal is that the RC “will intervene if it thinks that the Greffier has erred on a matter of principle or has gone wrong in exercising his discretion to the extent that intervention is required in the interests of justice and fairness.”

The RC has inherent jurisdiction to allow the amendment of a notice of appeal on an appeal from the JG in relation to an Alhamrani assessment. The principles for allowing the amendment of a pleading applied. The RC may allow fresh evidence on such an appeal as a matter of its inherent jurisdiction. The appropriate test was that set out in Ladd v Marshall [1954] 1 WLR 1489 and applied by the JCA in relation to Rule 12(1) of the Court of Appeal (Jersey) Rules 1964 in Mayo Associates SA v Cantrade Private Bank Switzerland (CI) Ltd [1998] JLR 173.