No claim as assignee or as beneficiary of a trust

Goldcorn v MPA (Construction Consultants) Ltd and Kazu Restaurants 1 Ltd [2025] EWHC 385 (TCC)

In Goldcorn v MPA (Construction Consultants) Ltd and Kazu Restaurants 1 Ltd [2025] EWHC 385 (TCC) Jonathan Acton Davis KC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, held, on the trial of two preliminary issues, that the claimant was not entitled to bring a claim against the first defendant as assignee of the second defendant's rights pursuant to a Deed of Assignment. Nor was the claimant entitled to bring a claim as a beneficiary of rights held on trust for him by the second defendant pursuant to a declaration of trust either in his own name or in order to compel the second defendant to enforce those rights on his behalf. Both claims were held to be precluded by the terms of the original contract which placed restrictions on the ability to assign the benefit of the contract (and which restrictions were found to be applicable on the facts of the case) and which also prevented the claimant from bringing his claim under the declaration of trust.