CA-2024-001533 - [2025] EWCA Civ 1369

Professor Willcocks’ losses and his complaint

Professor Willcocks was accepted by Linear as an elective professional client on the basis of these documents. He deposited £100,000 with SAXO on 8 January 2018. Between 1 February 2018 and 19 February 2019, Linear made a large number of trades under its Pembroke strategy on behalf of Professor Willcocks. These trades were almost exclusively in short-term CFDs and resulted in Professor Willcocks’ portfolio losing about half its value by mid-February 2019.

Professor Willcocks terminated Linear’s power of attorney on 19 February 2019. He then submitted a complaint to Linear on 24 May 2019 that it had used misleading terms and conditions relating to account fees; used misleading performance information relating to investment strategies; mismanaged his account including a failure to manage risk appropriately; and that it had used misleading contractual terms in the MDAA, in that it had sought to exclude a right to complain to the Ombudsman. He did not complain that he had been wrongly accepted as an elective professional client.

Professor Willcocks’ complaint was rejected by Linear on 23 July 2019. Professor Willcocks then submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman on 26 November 2019. Again, he did not complain that he had been wrongly accepted as an elective professional client. However, an investigator appointed by the Ombudsman considered Professor Willcocks’ complaint and concluded that he should not have been treated as an elective professional client.

The Ombudsman issued two provisional decisions on 5 August 2021 and 11 February 2022 before making a final decision on 29 April 2022 (the “Decision”).