Last month FSP’s Ken Gunn appeared as Expert Witness for the defendants at the Summer Row dispute in the High Court. Belfast-based Multi Veste, the developer behind the scrapped retail development in Wolverhampton was seeking around £28m compensation from a group of Northern Irish investors which had planned to invest into the development which collapsed following the Credit Crunch.
Ken provided evidence to the Court on the financial health of retailers and the impact that the poor economic conditions would have had on prospects for letting a large scale development in Wolverhampton.
With this plus evidence from Graham Chase of Chase & Partners on the valuation of the proposed project Justice Lewison concluded:
"….that Multi has failed to establish that it is more probable than not that the project would have gone ahead, even if the Northern Irish investors had produced the requisite bank guarantees. In short, Multi has failed to prove that the breach of contract by the Northern Irish investors has caused any loss."
He went on to find that, if the project had in fact gone ahead, the "worsening market in Wolverhampton" meant that Multi would have suffered an £81m loss.
Multi Vest was consequently awarded just £2 by the High Court and ordered to pay around £900,000 in legal costs accrued by the investors.
Ken commented: “I am delighted that Justice Lewison found in our Client’s favour. The High Court is a very challenging place to give evidence on research but FSP’s rigorous approach and retailer insight stood me in good stead.”
For more information please contact fspretail@fspretail.co.uk or call 01494 474740
Back to news