© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Does a bank owe a duty of care to give investment advice to sophisticated clients who purchase its complex investment products?
*Catherine Gibaud, Barrister, 3 Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn, London WC1R 5NT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 8441; Email: cgibaud{at}3vb.com. Catherine specializes in commercial, banking and finance and insolvency litigation and who acted for JP Morgan Chase in the Springwell litigation.
In this article, the author analyses the important recent decision of Gloster J in the Commercial Court in London in JP Morgan Chase Bank v Springwell Navigation Corporation [2008] EWHC 1186 (Comm) 27 May 2008 and its impact for banks and financial institutions defending similar negligence and misselling claims relating to the sale of complex investments in the capital markets. She concludes that the decision will be welcomed by banks and other potential defendants to credit crunch litigation in the capital markets as a robust reminder that sophisticated parties in these markets are entitled to regulate their relationship by contract. The case is also a salutary reminder of the importance of the key element of reasonableness of reliance on the part of the claimant in attempting to establish a duty of care to give investment advice.