Persimmon has been given leave to appeal a High Court order under which it must pay £4.1m to its partner in respect of a multi–million pound south
Lloyd LJ granted permission to appeal the order of Briggs J who had found in favour of developer Chartbrook’s claim that a profit–share agreement on the
At the High Court hearing in February, Persimmon had argued that, under the agreement, Chartbrook was entitled to only £721,000, but that if it were entitled to more, it would be as a result of a mistake in the original clause, which should be rectified.
It sought rectification because it alleged that the developer’s directors, Stephen Vantreen and Bob Reeve, knew about the mistake but had remained silent.
Ordering Persimmon to pay £3.5m together with interest of £600,000 within 14 days, Briggs J said that the “ordinary meaning” of the agreement pointed to Chartbrook’s rather than Persimmon’s construction.
Refusing to rectify the agreement in favour of Persimmon, he found that Reeve and Vantreen were not “the rogues that they would have to be if the necessary factual basis for Persimmon’s rectification case were to be accepted”.
In the Court of Appeal, Persimmon’s counsel, Christopher Nugee QC, argued that although the judge was entitled to accept Reeve and Vantreen as being honest witnesses, he was compelled by the documentary evidence to come to the opposite conclusion.
Granting permission to appeal, Lloyd LJ said that Persimmon’s appeal was “reasonably arguable” and should be heard over three days.
Persimmon teamed up with Chartbrook in 2001 to develop and sell 100 flats on the former industrial site. In return for supplying the site, Chartbrook agreed that it would receive a share of the sale proceeds from the development once a predetermined trigger amount had been reached.