Property investor Joseph Ackerman acted in breach of fiduciary duties while a director of two companies in the Ackerman Group, a judge has ruled in the latest stage of a bitter family dispute over its assets.
While Mr Justice Peter Smith found that Ackerman did not act dishonestly, he found in favour of Haysport Properties and Twinsectra in their claim of breach of fiduciary duty in 2005. The companies alleged that he caused them to grant security over various properties held by them to support a £4m facility obtained by another company New Liberty Property Holdings, which was owned by a trust of which Ackerman and his sister-in-law Naomi Ackerman were beneficiaries.
The judge said that Ackerman was “not dishonest”, clearly did not know that the matters were against the interests of the two companies and “honestly believed that the transactions were in the interests of the claimants”.
However, he failed in his fiduciary duty because he failed to ensure the claimants were properly advised and “failed properly to deal with the obvious conflict of interest that arose from his involvement on the other side of the transaction”.
In separate proceedings scheduled to be heard next month, 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.
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.
