Mishcon de Reya news, updates and analysis | Page 9 of 11

Mishcon de Reya client and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has lost a High Court battle over the £640,000 annual rent of a London pub.

Ramsay argued that he was not liable for the rent of the York & Albany Pub near Regent’s Park as his father-in-law Christopher Hutcheson had used a ‘ghost-writing’ machine to forge his signature on the 25-year lease in 2007. This signature made him the personal guarantor on the deal carried out by Gordon Ramsay Holdings International, which was 30% owned by his father-in-law and business partner Hutcheson.

Mishcon de Reya’s head of professional negligence Richard Gerstein was selected by Ramsay, who claimed he should not be held responsible for the 25-year lease, to work on the case which has now been dismissed by the High Court. Gerstein instructed Wilberforce Chambers‘ Jonathan Seitler QC and Benjamin Faulkner.

Regarding the outcome of the case, Gordon Ramsay said: ‘We’re obviously disappointed with the verdict but do not regret bringing the issue to court, which is sadly yet another fall out from the mismanagement of the company by its CEO before he was removed in 2010. We are now reviewing the options available to us.’

Film director Gary Love, who owns the York & Albany pub, instructed boutique London law firm Jeffrey Green Russell and was represented in court by Romie Tager QC and Alexander Goold of Selborne Chambers.

Mr Justice Morgan said: ‘Mr Hutcheson was acting within the wide general authority conferred on him by Mr Ramsay at all times until Mr Hutcheson’s dismissal in October 2010.’

He concluded: ‘Mr Ramsay may now regret the transaction in relation to the premises. He may particularly regret his involvement as a guarantor. He may consider that Mr Hutcheson did a bad deal. However, on my findings, he is not able to say that Mr Hutcheson exceeded his authority in any respect. I hold that Mr Ramsay, acting through his agent Mr Hutcheson, is bound by the guarantee in the lease of the premises.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Mishcon de Reya’s executive partner James Libson has brought a judicial review against the British Home Secretary Theresa May and the UK Serious Fraud Office for assisting the Guinean government’s probe into Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources over bribery and corruption in the country. 

London-based Libson, who is also head of private clients at Mishcon, filed for a judicial review that claims UK bodies offered unlawful assistance to Guinea, carrying out a ‘rubber stamping exercise’ that authorised ‘everything sought by the Guinean authorities’.

It said the SFO requested 180,000 documents from BSG’s law firms Mishcon and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, which would take 1,350 man-hours to prepare at a cost of £330,000. BSG’s adviser Onyx Financial Advisers was also hit with document requests from the SFO, in what Libson described as ‘the most onerous demand for documents ever made by the SFO in relation to obtaining evidence on behalf of a foreign government’.

In assisting with an official request for documents and support from the government of Guinea, where diamond miner BSG is accused of bribing government officials to secure a slice of the untapped iron ore buried in the Simandou mountain range, the company claims that May and the SFO ‘would facilitate an investigation brought in bad faith for political reasons and which will be pursued without regard for fair trial or due process rights of individuals affected’.

The Guinean government, aided by a report produced by UK law firm DLA Piper, alleged that BSG used bribes to secure a mining concession potentially worth $140bn. The company was awarded a 25-year concession in 2010 to mine the Simandou mountain range following a $165m exploration programme in the area.

Libson said in a statement: ‘The UK authorities have a heightened duty in the exercise of their discretion in a case like this. The defendants have not applied that duty properly, if at all. Instead, they have simply waved through the request, ignoring numerous indicators of political influence, and have given effect to it by way of the most draconian measures at their disposal.’

Dag Cramer, director of BSG Resources, added: ‘The witness statements present evidence of the illegal and corrupted practices of multiple parties that have conspired against BSGR. BSGR is the victim of multiple related parties acting independently and in concert to achieve various objectives at the expense of BSGR and the people of Guinea.’

Mishcon’s arbitration partner Karel Daele was instructed earlier this year to sue the Guinean government for $5bn at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) after BSG’s concession was revoked.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

A major blow has been dealt to Saudi royalty, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, by the Supreme Court today (26 November) after a judgment, handed down by Lord Neuberger, dismissed his appeal to refuse to comply with a personal signature order.

The appeal arose out of the high profile dispute between the Prince and Apex Global Management, a Seychelles company owned by Jordanian businessman Faisal Almhairat. Apex was involved in a joint venture with Global Torch Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company owned by the Prince. Apex and Global fell out after setting up an English company with the breakdown in relations disintegrating into a barrage of accusations, including allegations of seriously unlawful conduct taking place, such as money-laundering for Hezbollah, and financial misappropriation.

The relief sought by Apex included a claim for just under $6m plus interest which it argued was owed by the Prince. However, the Prince maintained he had paid the sum into the bank account of certain companies and challenged the liability.

Both launched petitions which were heard together, and in July 2013 Justice Vos ordered each party to file and serve a disclosure statement certified by a Statement of Truth signed personally. The Prince objected to the order and failed to comply on the basis that, as a member of the Saudi Royal Family, he was bound by protocol from taking part in litigation personally or from signing court documents.

Apex sought to obtain an order that unless the Prince complied, his defence for the case be struck out. The Prince unsuccessfully appealed a series of decisions to the Court of Appeal which gave permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has now dismissed the appeal by a majority of four to one. Lord Neuberger (with whom Lord Sumption, Lord Hughes, and Lord Hodge agreed) held that the language of civil procedure rules suggests ‘the standard form of disclosure by a party does require personal signing by the party’ and such an order reflected normal practice.

‘It is true that the question of whether the Prince has paid may be determined in the very proceedings which he would have been debarred from defending. However, it is inherent in orders such as default judgment that the claimants will obtain judgment for relief to which it may subsequently be shown they were not entitled. The Supreme Court should be very diffident about interfering with the guidance given or principles laid down by the Court of Appeal when it comes to case management and application of the Civil Procedure Rules.’

‘Given the very serious and bitterly disputed allegations and counterallegations in the proceedings, the doubts as to the existence, status and reach of the alleged protocol and the fact that all other parties were being required to sign disclosure statements personally (and it was not suggested by anyone to Vos J that all the parties should have the same indulgence as the Prince), it is very difficult to see how Vos J’s conclusion could be faulted; it appears to me to have been well within the generous margin accorded to case management decisions of first instance judges.’

Representing the Prince was Mishcon de Reya which instructed 4 New Square trio Justin Fenwick QC, Daniel Saoul and Michael Ryan, while Teacher Stern acted for Apex and instructed Serle Court duo Daniel Lightman and Thomas Elias.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk