At the High Court, judge Peter Smith J has ordered a full trial of a long-running dispute between the former owner of a Derbyshire quarry and the developer of the site.
The dispute, which began four years ago, concerns a claim by Alan Hughes for the outstanding purchase price of Cawdor Quarry, Matlock, Derbyshire.
In 2005, a court held that the balance was calculable only after the determination of Hughes’ liabilities under a related agreement with Sainsbury’s, which had purchased an adjoining section of the quarry in 1996.
Under the Sainsbury’s agreement, Hughes was liable for any costs exceeding £4.5m that the company incurred during the preparation of its land for a new supermarket.
The preparatory costs included the construction of a road and the purchase of several plots of land from third parties.
In 1998, Hughes sold the remainder of the quarry to developer Chelverton Properties for £1.5m. Chelverton contracted to pay a further £5m when various stages of planning permission were granted.
Hughes was given a charge over the land as security for the £5m, but retained responsibility to repay Chelverton for the excess payment liability in favour of Sainsbury’s.
In January 2005,
Groveholt claims that the total preparatory costs for the Sainsbury’s scheme are £13,354,623, thereby exceeding the £4.5m warranted by Hughes by substantially more than the £3m potentially due to him.
Consequently, in November 2007, Groveholt claimed that in the light of that judgment it was no longer open to Hughes to challenge the deductibility of the preparatory costs and judgment should be granted in its favour without a need for a full trial.
Peter Smith J disagreed and held: “This case is a classic instance of where the parties are best served by progressing the case speedily and expeditiously towards trial.”
Groveholt Ltd v Hughes and another Chancery Division (Peter Smith J) 20 June 2008.
Nicholas
