10/03/2026

High Court rejects jurisdiction and reverse summary judgment applications in €100m Polish real estate fraud case

Judgment has been handed down in the long-running Durnont Enterprises Ltd v Fazita Investment Ltd & Ors [2026] EWHC 405(Ch) – a derivative claim alleging a complex fraud which stripped approximately €100 million from a Polish commercial real estate investment fund. Philip Riches KC, Andrew Dinsmore and James Lamming acted for the successful claimant.

The five defendants (represented by three sets of lawyers) challenged the jurisdiction of the English court and one also sought reverse summary judgment, leading to a hard-fought five-day hearing in November 2025 before Rajah J. The hearing involved detailed consideration of the complex underlying facts and of foreign law expert evidence. It followed on from a two-day hearing in 2023 at which permission to continue the derivative claim had been granted and a hearing in the Court of Appeal in 2024 in relation to the claim against a bank investor.

In his judgment, handed down on 25 February 2026, Rajah J addressed the relevant tests following the 2025 Magomedov jurisdiction decision of Bright J ([2025] EWHC 59 (Comm)). He dismissed all of the defendants’ grounds of challenge.

He took time to compliment “the intelligent deployment of junior advocates, in accordance with the 8 November 2023 Practice Note 39PG.5 from the Lady Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls and the Heads of Division”, noting that it “has benefits for the parties and their legal teams, as well as for the junior advocates concerned, and is to be encouraged.”

Philip Riches KC, Andrew Dinsmore and James Lamming were instructed by Cooke, Young & Keidan LLP.