Hotel group Von Essen has failed in its £165,000 breach of warranty claim against former hoteliers Lord and Lady Vaughan.
The High Court granted the Vaughans a declaration that Von Essen had failed to give valid notice of the £165,000 claim under a share purchase agreement and, therefore, the claim was time-barred.
Lord and Lady Vaughan were the sole directors and shareholders of Courtland Country House Hotels, which carried on business as a small chain of luxury hotels.
In 2003, they sold the entire share capital of the company and its four historic Cotswolds hotels in a £13m deal with Von Essen.
The agreement contained a number of standard warranties and a clause requiring that written notice of a warranty claim had to be given by a specified date.
Any such warranty notice had to be copied to the Vaughan’s solicitor, Kendall Davies, in order for it to be valid.
A dispute arose subsequently between the parties and another firm of solicitors, Paul Davidson Taylor (PDT), became involved on behalf of the Vaughans.
Just before the end of the period for a warranty claim, Von Essen sent a copy warranty notice to PDT.
The Vaughans denied that that was a valid notice and sought a declaration from the court to that effect.
In granting the declaration Etherton J said that it was “not sufficient for the copy warranty notice to be sent to solicitors other than those that were authorised to accept service [under the agreement].”
Von Essen is based in Cliveden, a 19th century palatial building near Heathrow Airport. It is led by chairman and founder Andrew Davis based on funding from a family trust led by Davis’s Austrian aunt, the Countess Von Essen.
The four hotels comprise the 13-bedroom Buckland Manor in Buckland, Gloucestershire, the 11-bedroom Lower Slaughter and the 15-bedroom Washbourne Court Hotel, both in Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire, and the 16-bedroom Washbourne Court Hotel, in Worcester.
Vaughan and another v Von Essen Hotels Ltd Chancery Division (Etherton J) 15 December 2006.
Simon Mills (instructed by Paul Davidson Taylor, of Horsham) appeared for the claimants; Matthew Hardwick (instructed by Goodman Derrick) appeared for the defendant.
References: EGi Legal News 18/12/06
