A couple who were fired from their jobs as wedding planners but refused to leave the country estate where the business was based face a legal bill of at least £400,000.
Judge HH Paul Matthews ruled that Nihal and Andrew Brake trespassed for more than 1,200 days on West Axnoller Farm near Beaminster, Dorset, following a High Court trial in Bristol last year. He ruled that they should pay at least £200,000 to the company that owns the estate and said further costs would be assessed later.
In a costs ruling yesterday, the judge ruled the Brakes were liable for the owner’s legal costs, bringing the total legal bill up to around £400,000.
The Brakes had built a weddings and events business, which they ran from the estate. They sold the estate and business to medical cannabis entrepreneur Geoffrey Guy in 2017 but continued to run it as employees. Guy allowed the couple to continue to live on the farm in between events.
However, in November 2018, the relationship between Guy and the Brakes broke down. Guy dismissed them but the Brakes refused to leave the main house, refused to remove their horses from the riding area on the grounds and refused to pay for the use of the estate.
This led to more than four years of litigation and during most of that time the Brakes “roamed widely over the whole property”, the trial judge wrote in his ruing on damages, handed down in November. He said the case was about “trespass of a rather unusual nature”.
The Brakes left the house in April 2022 in response to a court order.
In his ruling, the judge said Guy was claiming payment for 1,263 days’ use of the house and 1,218 days’ use of the riding arena.
The judge ordered that the Brakes pay £236,818 plus interest calculated at 8% per year, which came to £61,800.
In yesterday’s ruling, he covered the legal costs run up by Chedington Events Ltd, the company that owns the business and estate, to take the case to court. He ruled that the Brakes should pay between 40% and 70% of its legal bill, estimated to be around £190,000. He said the Brakes should pay £140,000 now, while the lawyers involved work out a detailed figure for court approval.
According to the ruling, litigation is still ongoing, and the Brakes are seeking to get part of the ruling overturned in the Court of Appeal.
