swarb.co.uk - law index
These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.
Agency - From: 1998 To: 1998
This page lists 12 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.
Paul Jeremy Duffen v Fra Bo Spa [1998] EWCA Civ 749
30 Apr 1998
CA
Agency, Commercial
Application for leave to appeal.
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Paul Jeremy Duffen v Fra Bo Spa Times, 15 June 1998; [1998] EWCA Civ 748; [2000] EuLR 167
30 Apr 1998
CA
Agency, Damages, European
The plaintiff had been appointed as an exclusive sales agent for the defendant for a minimum period of four years. The defendants terminated it eighteen months early claiming fraudulent misrepresentation. Held: The clause setting the damages claim was a penalty clause and was unenforceable. The termination of the agency gave rise to a claim additional to the statutory claim. A commercial agent whose contract had been terminated within the regulations was entitled to augment the common law damages due to him with the sums due to him by virtue of the Commercial Agents Regulations. The right approach was to look at net earnings which might have made during the remainder of the period for which his agency would have run had it not been terminated prematurely, but without taking into account common law concepts such as avoided loss and mitigation. An award based on gross earnings would give the agent an undeserved windfall. The judge awarded compensation for loss of future earnings, ignoring the ordinary rules of mitigation.
Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 No 3053
1 Cites
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Moore v Piretta Pta Ltd Times, 11 May 1998; [1999] 1 All ER 174; [1998] CLY 113
11 May 1998
QBD
John Mitting QC
Agency, European, Commercial
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 principal continued to derive benefit. Held: The agency contract was to be interpreted to include the series of contracts, including those before the regulations. The indemnity was capped at one year's average remuneration over the previous five years. A commercial agent whose contract had been terminated during term of contract was entitled nevertheless to an indemnity in accordance with the Regulations for custom introduced for entire period. In an indemnity case, equitable principles might require there to be taken into account such part of the goodwill as the agent was able to exploit for himself, or for the benefit of another principal.
John Mitting QC said: "Consistent with the purpose of achieving harmony between member states, it is in my judgment permissible to look into the law and practice of the country in which the relevant right . . originated . . ; and to do so for the purpose of construing the English (sic) Regulations and to use them as a guide to their application".
and "There are three stages in assessing the amount of the indemnity. First, it has to be asked what is the value of the business to the principal of new customers brought . . by the agent and of existing customers whose business has been significantly increased. The factors to be taken into account in making that judgment include the loss of the business of such customers after the agency has been terminated, whether due to causes beyond the agent's and principal's control (for example insolvency on the part of the customer or a decision on the part of that customer to buy goods elsewhere) or to factors within the agent's control, for example the agent taking the custom of that customer with him. That is because the thing that has to be assessed is the extent to which the principal continues to derive substantial benefits from the efforts of the agent. The value of the business which remains for the benefit of the principal can, and in some cases no doubt should be, assessed by reference to periods as short as a year. But there is nothing in the regulations that requires them to be thus limited. If on the evidence the benefits of the agent's efforts are likely to endure for more than a year after the termination of the agency then that fact can be taken into account in the assessment and need not be limited to looking at the period of one year after termination only.
The second factor is that the payment must be equitable having regard to all the circumstances and particularly the commission 'lost' by the agent. . Other factors which can be taken into account under this head include . . the expenses which the agent would have incurred in earning the commission which was his due. Another factor common to all cases is accelerated payment: the indemnity is accrued as at the date of termination in respect of commission which would have occurred after it. Some discount on that account must be made.
The purpose of the indemnity seems to me to be to award a share of the goodwill built up by the efforts of the agent to him on the termination of the agency. Otherwise the whole benefit of that goodwill will remain with his former principal.
The third step in the calculation is this. Having calculated the amount of the indemnity, a cap is applied. The cap is provided for in reg 17(4)."
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
1 Citers
Goodyear Great Britain Ltd v Robert Arthur Noble [1998] EWCA Civ 914
5 Jun 1998
CA
Agency
[ Bailii ]
Thatcher v Bryant Homes Central Limited; CA 10-Jun-1998 - [1998] EWCA Civ 948
Ernest Edward Thatcher v Bryant Homes Central Limited [1998] EWCA Civ 947
10 Jun 1998
CA
Agency, Construction
[ Bailii ]
Ingmar GB Limited v Eaton Leonard Technologies Inc [1998] EWCA Civ 1366
31 Jul 1998
CA
Peter Gibson, Aldous, Potter LJJ
Commercial, Agency, European
Case referred to ECJ.
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 - Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993
1 Cites
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Hunter v Bowater Windows Limited T/a Zenith Windows Limited [1998] EWCA Civ 1381
5 Aug 1998
CA
Agency, Litigation Practice
Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993
[ Bailii ]
Nahum v Royal Holloway and Bedford New College; CA 12-Nov-1998 - Times, 19 November 1998; [1998] EWCA Civ 1760; [1999] EMLR 252
Hayman v Dingley [1998] ScotCS 73
20 Nov 1998
SCS
TG Coutts, QC
Scotland, Agency
[ Bailii ] - [ ScotC ]
Parks v Esso Petroleum Company Limited; CA 23-Nov-1998 - [1998] EWCA Civ 1820
Savills Land and Property Limited v Kibble [1998] EWCA Civ 1833
24 Nov 1998
CA
Agency, Contract
[ Bailii ]