Feuding princess in £250,000 debt to Jersey law firm

Monday 07 January 2019

An Italian society princess, whose family feud led to a judgment worth $200million, dropped her Jersey lawyer without having paid off a bill totalling a quarter of a million for his services.

Princess Camilla De Bourbon de Deux Siciles was found to have conspired with her mother, 60s filmstar Edoarda Crociani, to secretly redirect millions of family wealth including money, assets and paintings away from her estranged sister, Cristiana.

The finding led the Royal Court to rule after five years of hearings and a trial that lasted almost three months that the $200million trust that had been tampered with be reconstituted so that Cristiana and her children could benefit.

The case is far from closed, however, with Princess Camilla and her mother continuing to dispute elements of various judgments.

Pictured: How the Crociani case was reported in Connect Magazine at the time.

In the latest hearing, which saw the princess forced to disclose information about where her assets are located, the court learned that she had dropped the Jersey lawyer, Advocate Ashley Hoy, that had represented her through much of the process without having paid his firm fees of £250,000.

She was said to have taken on a new lawyer to represent her, Advocate David Steenson, leading Advocate Hoy to ask the court to stop him from making legal representations on her behalf until the debt was settled.

Advocate Steenson asked for the disclosure order to be adjourned until mid-February, but the court refused.

Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, sitting with Jurats Crill and Thomas, observed: “There is nothing to say that the fee dispute with Advocate Hoy will be resolved in time to allow Advocate Steenson to come on the record for the 14th February, 2019.

“Unless it is amicably resolved the only way of progressing the issue is for the fee dispute to be sent to the Law Society for adjudication to which both parties must agree and which can take months, or for him to apply for an order allowing him to represent [Princess Camilla] on terms as to security for Advocate Hoy’s fees, which again would take time.”

Pictured: The court heard that the Law Society may need to step in if the £250,000 fee dispute cannot be resolved amicably.

Noting that there has been “a history” of the Princess and her mother “working together to frustrate the claims of others over assets they control”, the Commissioner said that there was no reason why she shouldn’t provide the requested information – including her £250,000 debt to her former lawyer.

“The fee dispute with Advocate Hoy is a matter for her to resolve,” the Commissioner noted.

The Court also heard that the Princess was looking to bring criminal proceedings against BNP Paribas Jersey Trust Corporation Limited – the entity seeking to enforce a previous court order granting them access to documents about her assets – in Monaco.

It was argued that information should not be given to them, as Monaco Law could deem it illegal in the circumstances.

However, the Commissioner concluded that the information should still be handed, and that he would only change his mind if the Princess can provide “clear legal advice” supporting her argument. 

“We can see no reason why that information should not be provided and indeed every reason why it should be provided promptly,” he said.

Learn more about the Crociani family dispute by clicking here.