The claimant was an agent in the petrochemical industry promoting and selling the defendant’s valves. There were two agency agreements, one relating solely to products to be supplied to a particular petro-chemical complex in Nanhai, the other being a general agency agreement under which the claimant was given exclusive rights to represent the defendant and other suppliers for a period of two years. The latter agreement was terminated as far as the defendant was concerned as a result of the defendant’s repudiation of it about twelve months before it was due to expire. The agent brought proceedings claiming commission or damages in respect of orders placed with the defendant for equipment required for three different phases of a construction project at Bonny Island, Nigeria and compensation under Regulation 17.
Held: the claimant had been the effective cause of the defendant’s obtaining orders for equipment required for all three phases of the project at Bonny Island and he therefore held that it had earned commission in respect of all that equipment. It therefore became unnecessary for him to consider the alternative claim for damages which was apparently limited to the amount of commission which the claimant said it would have earned in relation to the equipment ordered for that project. As to the compensation payable under the Regulations, the court declined to follow the general French rule as to two year’s commission. The claimant would have effected one further successful introduction during the remaining twelve months of the contract, the value of which he assessed by reference to the average gross commission earned by the claimant from the six previous projects it had obtained for the defendant. The court approached the assessment of compensation as one would approach the assessment of damages for breach of contract.
Judges:
Fulford J
Citations:
[2005] EWHC 1904 (QB)
Links:
Statutes:
Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 No 3053, Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents 17
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Moore v Piretta Pta Ltd QBD 11-May-1998
M had a series of agency contracts selling women’s clothing. The last contract was in 1994, and on termination, M claimed an indemnity under the contract which itself applied the regulations. Reg 17(3) gave an indemnity for new customers, where the . .
Cited by:
Doubted in part – Lonsdale v Howard and Hallam Ltd CA 8-Feb-2006
The claimant sought damages after his agency with the defendants was terminated. The central issue was whether compensation was to be calculated at two years commission as derived from French practice or otherwise.
Held: ‘there is no clear . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Agency, Damages
Updated: 07 July 2022; Ref: scu.230121