Bird & Bird Secures Another Important Victory In The Court Of Appeal For Wealth Manager XY.

International law firm Bird & Bird successfully defended its client XY ERS UK Limited and its owner Mr Daniele Migani in an appeal brought by GI GLOBINVESTMENT Limited and Matteo Cordero di Montezemolo as part of a long running dispute involving allegations of deceit, dishonesty and serious wrongdoing. The judgment was handed down today in the UK’s Court of Appeal, following the firm successfully defending all claims in the High Court in March 2025.

Bird & Bird successfully argued for its client that, where a party owes a fiduciary duty to another it does not create a positive duty to disclose all facts. The Appellants had argued that in addition to having a duty of no conflict, our client owed a duty of  “undivided loyalty” which they claimed included a duty to disclose all matters relevant to their affairs.

In relation to the Appellants 2nd argument that their clients could not give informed consent, the Appeal Court further agreed with our arguments that there was no additional fiduciary duty of disclosure and further that in any event the Appellants, as sophisticated investors, had adequate information to understand the nature and extent of our client’s interests in the investments and investment vehicles.

The XY Group, a financial technology and consultancy business, provided services to the Montezemolo family between 2016 and 2020. You can read the full facts of this case here: Bird & Bird secures important victory for wealth manager XY against ex-Ferrari Chairman

The Bird & Bird team was led by Sophie Eyre (Partner and Co-Head International Disputes Group), alongside Matthew Pack (Legal Director), Stephen Allen (Associate). Counsel: Adam Cloherty KC, James Fennemore (XXIV Old Budlings)

Bird & Bird partner Sophie Eyre said on the result:  “We are thrilled that XY has been fully vindicated by the Court of Appeal having successfully defended all claims in the High Court.  As the First Instance Judge said, the cause of the losses suffered by the Appellants was the unprecedented turbulence of the onset of Covid-19 together with other geopolitical and economic factors”.