Simon Whitehead (Joseph Hage Aaronson) examines the High Court judgment in the FII GLO handed down on 18 December.
On 18 December Henderson J delivered his latest judgment in as the judge describes it ‘the odyssey of the franked investment income group litigation’ (see The Test Claimants in the FII Group Litigation v HMRC [2014] EWHC 4302 (Ch)). Since litigation commenced in 2003 the claimants have battled their way through every court level on multiple occasions with the sole exception of a single trip to the Supreme Court ([2012] UKSC 19) including three trips to the European Court alone.
During the process on four occasions Finance Acts have produced retrospective legislation to stand in their way (FA 2004 s 320 followed by s 320(3) FA 2007 s 107...
