English Court of Appeal rejects claims by sophisticated investor against financial institution for misrepresentation

In Springwell Navigation Corporation v JP Morgan Chase Bank & Ors, the English Court of Appeal dealt with two particular aspects of the judgment in the court below. The matter essentially revolved around claims for damages made by a sophisticated investor against a financial institution with respect to poorly performing investments against the backdrop of a financial crisis, which in this case, was the Russian financial crisis of 1998. All of the investor’s claims were dismissed by the English High Court. Permission to appeal was granted with regard to two aspects of the lower court’s decision, namely a misrepresentation claim in which the investor alleged that the institution had misrepresented the nature of the investments, and a claim that the institution had failed in its duty to obtain value from forward currency contracts attached to the investments post the Russian default. On appeal, both these claims were dismissed.