Grandson of late artist and collector loses ownership fight over paintings

Sunday 05 June 2022

The grandson of British artist and collector Sir Francis Cook, who lived in St. Brelade, has failed to convince the Royal Court that works once owned by his grandfather were transferred out of a family trust fraudulently.

Richard Herbert Aster Cook sued the last living trustee and the executors of the will of the late widow of Sir Francis, arguing that paintings and other items which had been left by Sir Francis, who died in 1978, to his wife, Lady Bridget, who died in 2018, had been moved from a family trust in or around 1984.

For example, he claimed that a painting had been sold in 1983 to Lady Cook for £30,000 from a trust, which then paid her a dividend of the same amount. This painting was then allegedly sold in 2005 for £500,000.

Mr Cook called on the trustee and executors to transfer the assets back to the trust or pay appropriate compensation.

However, the defendants in the civil action – the executors and trustee, Leslie Rufus Crapp - asked the Court to ‘strike out’ Mr Cook’s claim, arguing that they had clear evidence that there had been no fraud.

They asked the court to make a ‘summary judgment’ to end the litigation.

In a detailed judgment, Judicial Greffier Adam Clarke rejected Mr Cook’s arguments.

He said: “Summary judgment should only be applied with considerable caution and when the evidence in support of the application is sufficiently compelling.  

“I have concluded that on this occasion that evidence is sufficiently compelling.  

“The available evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the items listed within the ‘reversionary interest’ [paintings and other items owned by Sir Francis] were not in the ownership of the Trust at the time of Sir Francis Cook’s death and therefore could not have been affected by the terms of his will.  

“There is nothing of evidential weight to convince the court that the appointment of the trust assets to Lady Cook either did not take place, was done so without the knowledge of Mr Baden-Powell [a late trustee] or was facilitated by a mistake by the trustees.  

“Finally, there is nothing pleaded or available in evidence to sustain a claim for fraud or to rebut the affirmative defences for Mr Crapp.  

“I therefore conclude that the claim brought by Mr Cook has no real prospect of succeeding and there is no other compelling reason why the case should be disposed of at trial, and I order that the claim be summarily dismissed.”