Former Freeport chairman Sean Collidge has lost his dispute with Freeport over lost benefits.
Following a nine-day hearing, Jack J has rejected Collidge’s £1.2m claim against the designer outlet village company, which he founded in 1993.
Collidge claimed that he was entitled to £1.2m in benefits under a March 2006 termination agreement between him and Freeport, which wassigned following a board meeting at which allegations of misconduct made against Collidge were considered.
Under the agreement, Collidge would immediately resign and in return receive a payment of £445,000, the rental cost of a Monaco flat until September 2006 and private health insurance.
However, following a further investigation into his conduct, Freeport refused to grant the benefits because, at the date of the agreement, there were pre-existing breaches of his contract of employment that entitled Freeport to dismiss Collidge summarily.
Freeport accused him of a number of improprieties, including withdrawing money and making charges for personal expenses on a corporate credit card and taking a number of items belonging to Freeport, including a quad bike, for his own use.
One of the central claims concerned the alleged misuse of company driver Paul Bradshaw’s time by Collidge, from getting him to paint his French villa to maintenance work at a hotel owned by Collidge.
Rejecting Collidge’s claim, Jack J said: “I am satisfied here that Mr Collidge did dishonestly obtain expenses from Freeport on a number of occasions, which taken together would have justified his summary dismissal. … Mr Collidge habitually abused his ability to obtain expenses from Freeport. That amounted to a repudiation of his contract and entitled Freeport to dismiss him summarily.”
Collidge, who was not present at the hearing, now faces a bill of more than £1m after the judge ordered him to pay Freeport’s legal costs of £450,000 in addition to his own of £561,000.
Freeport has issued a statement saying it is “pleased to report that Mr Collidge’s claim was entirely dismissed”.
Sean Collidge was denied leave to appeal.
Collidge v Freeport plc Queen’s Bench Division (Jack J) 25 May 2007.
David Reade QC (instructed by Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw) appeared for the claimant; Paul Nicholls (instructed by Dechert) appeared for the defendant.
