Prospective High Court application

At a hearing yesterday (Monday, 28 February 2022) in the claim brought by two members of the Universities Superannuation Scheme for a derivative action against the directors of the trustee, the judge ordered a future hearing for both sides to attend to determine whether permission should be given for the claim to proceed. This was after initially refusing to allow even this step when the application was made on the papers.

The main issue was the highly technical legal question of whether this type of claim is available at all for the claimants in these circumstances. Originally he had held that it was not, but now he thought that should be considered further at a hearing where both sides can be heard (the trustee having not yet been able to make any arguments).

It is important to note that yesterday’s hearing was initiated by the claimants as part of the Court process for considering actions of this type and that, consistent with that process, USS was not involved in yesterday’s hearing. There was no significant consideration or endorsement by the judge of the underlying merits of the claim. USS will now oppose permission for the claim to proceed at the hearing.

The statement USS issued in November 2021 when this first arose still holds and can be found on our news section.