Hotel Portfolio II UK Limited (in liquidation) v Marlborough Developments Limited & Ors
| Judge | Mr Justice Bryan |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 3075 (Comm) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Commercial Court) |
| Counsel | James Pickering Kc,Samuel Hodge |
| Date | 29 November 2024 |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 3075 (Comm)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
COMMERCIAL COURT (KBD)
Royal Courts of Justice, Rolls Building
Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL
Date: 29/11/2024
Before :
THE HON. MR JUSTICE BRYAN
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Between :
Case No: CL-2023-000044
Hotel Portfolio II UK Limited (In Liquidation)
Claimant
- and –
(1) Marlborough Developments Limited
(2) Ozturk 2 Recoveries Limited
(3) Dr Gerald Martin Smith
Defendants
AND
Between :
Case No: CL-2023-000138
(1) Ozturk 2 Recoveries Limited
(2) Marlborough Developments Limited
(3) Chepstow Property Co. Limited
(4) Bryanna Property Co. Limited
(5) Llanharan Property Co. Limited
(6) SCDS Corporation Inc
(7) Dunedin Holdings Limited
(8) SCDS London Limited (previously Coegi
Properties Limited)
(9) Burtonwood Dev. LimitedClaimants/
Respondents
- and –
Mr Andrew Joseph Ruhan
- and -
Hotel Portfolio II UK Limited (In Liquidation)
Defendant/
Respondent
Applicant
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
James Pickering KC and Samuel Hodge (instructed by Spring Law) forHotel Portfolio II
UK Limited (in Liquidation)
Marlborough Developments Limited, Ozturk 2 Recoveries Limited, and Dr Gerald Martin
Smith did not appear, being debarred from defending the claim
Claimants/Respondents 3 – 9 in CL-2023-000138 (the NCADs) did not appear, being
debarred from defending the claim
Mr Ruhan was not represented and did not attend the trial
Hearing dates: 22, 23, and 24 October 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 2.30pm on 29 November 2024 by circulation to
the parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.
.............................
THE HON. MR JUSTICE BRYAN
Approved Judgment
MR JUSTICE BRYAN:
A. INTRODUCTION
1.This trial, and the associated claims brought by the Claimant, Hotel Portfolio II UK
Limited (“HPII”), involves the consideration of a very long and complex underlying
factual history, which relates to activities of multiple persons in relation to which
there have been lengthy proceedings involving numerous parties across many years in
many jurisdictions, beginning in around 2012 and continuing to date. The procedural
history itself is convoluted and has seen many interim applications.
2.As will become apparent, it is hard to overstate the serious dishonesty that has been
found in the underlying litigation going back over 20 years. The main characters in
the present claim are Dr Gerald Smith (“Dr Smith”) and Mr Andrew Ruhan (“Mr
Ruhan”), who, as archenemies, were involved in heavy attritional and bitter-fought
litigation against one another over many years, but whom HPII submits have now
formed a union to join, what is characterised to me as, the “unholiest of unholy
alliances” to thwart HPII in the recovery of the fruits of its litigation against Mr
Ruhan.
3.This judgment deals withHPII’s claims in two proceedings: HPII’s claim in the
proceedings with claim number CL-2023-000044(the “HPII Proceedings”),and
HPII’s application in claim number CL-2023-000138 (the “Ozturk Proceedings”). The
Ozturk Proceedings were first in time (issued in June 2022 under claim number BL-
2022-000963), and resulted in what HPII submits is a (sham) default judgment (the
“Default Judgment”) entered against Mr Ruhan on 5 July 2022 for circa £0.85 billion.
In the Ozturk Proceedings, the Claimants are collectively referred to as the “Ozturk
Claimants”,andclaimants3-9onlyare referredtoas the Non-CauseofAction
Defendants (the “NCADs”).
4.The HPII Proceedings follow on the heels of proceedings issued by HPII and its
liquidator against Mr Ruhan and Mr Anthony Stevens (“Mr Stevens”) in CL-2018-
000226 (the “Ruhan Proceedings”), which resulted in HPII obtaining a money
judgment against Mr Ruhan in a sum of at least £102.26 million plus very substantial
interest and costs ([2022] EWHC 383 (Comm)), (the “Ruhan Trial Judgment”).
5.In short, HPII contends that upon finding out, through supply of the draft Ruhan Trial
Judgment (the “Draft Ruhan Trial Judgment”), that HPII had succeeded in a major
victoryin the Ruhan Proceedings, Mr Ruhan and Dr Smithtogether engaged in
devising, and thereafter carrying out,a dishonest scheme(“the Scheme”). That
Scheme was designed to undermine and prejudice HPII’s judgment rights against Mr
Ruhan, by way of the Ozturk Proceedings.
6.HPII contends that the Scheme involved a dishonest and abusive claim being made
(by way of the Ozturk Proceedings) against Mr Ruhan by companies controlled by Dr
Smith (including Marlborough Developments Limited (“MDL”), Ozturk 2 Recoveries
Limited (“Ozturk”) and the 7 NCADs), which would not be contested by Mr Ruhan
and thus lead to theDefault Judgment. Even before theDefault Judgment was
entered, a (dishonest) “settlement” was, in the event, reached (the June Settlement, to
which I will refer in due course) so as to provide an avenue for Mr Ruhan to move his
assets to Dr Smith (and/or the companies under his control), thus out of the reach of
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