Property investor Joseph Ackerman has failed in a bid to put off a near-£10m claim against him until resolution of the next chapter of the bitter family dispute over the Ackerman Group.
As a result, Ackerman will face, at a trial in January, claims from two group companies – Haysport Properties and Twinsectra – of breach of fiduciary duty while acting as director of both in 2005.
Deputy judge Tipples QC refused to adjourn the trial until after the resolution of separate proceedings in which Ackerman is once again making claims against his sister-in-law, nephew and the barrister appointed to divide the assets of the Ackerman Group.
In 2011, Ackerman lost his high court claim that Anthony Thornhill QC was biased in favour of Naomi and Barry Ackerman when producing the “Ackerman Report” setting out how the family group should be divided. He won permission to appeal, but his appeal was settled by consent.
Now though he has brought a fresh claim over the report, which is to be the subject of a strike out application by the defendants in April 2016. He has also brought a complaint against Thornhill to the Bar Standards Council.
Ackerman hoped to win a ruling putting back the near £10m claim from Haysport and Twinsectra until after determination of his attacks on Thornhill’s report.
However, the judge said she had formed the “very clear view” that the trial should proceed next month.
Joseph Ackerman and his brother Jack built up a significant property portfolio from the 1960s, with assets including more than 100 property companies and charitable company Delapage, of which Haysport and Twinsectra are subsidiaries.
However, following Jack’s death in 1989, his widow Naomi took over his interests, and their son Barry later joined the business. Relations between the two sides deteriorated, leading to the decision taken in 2006 to divide the Ackerman Group assets.
