The defendant had sold her interest in the claimant company, undertaking not to compete. The claimant now sought damages alleging a breach.
Held: The defendants had acted in breach of contract by breaching the non-compete covenants (although less extensively than had been assumed in the expert reports) between August 2007 and 20 December 2009, that they had also breached the non-solicit covenants between 20 December 2006 and 20 December 2009 by soliciting business from seven local authorities, and that the first defendant had also acted in breach of the contractual confidentiality clause and an equitable duty of confidence by appropriating the market research information in April 2006 and subsequently using it to set up Positive Living.
This was a prime example of a case in which Wrotham Park damages should be and were available. It would, he said, be difficult for the claimant to identify the financial loss it had suffered by reason of the defendants’ wrongful competition, not least because there was a degree of secrecy in the establishment of Positive Living’s business which had not been fully reversed by the disclosure process. In his judgment it would be just for the claimant to have the option of recovering damages in the amount which might reasonably have been demanded in 2007 for releasing the defendants from their covenants, not least because the covenants provided that the restraint was subject to consent, not to be unreasonably withheld.
Judges:
Phillips J
Citations:
[2014] EWHC 2213 (QB)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Wrotham Park Estate Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd ChD 1974
55 houses had been built by the defendant, knowingly in breach of a restrictive covenant, imposed for the benefit of an estate, and in the face of objections by the claimant.
Held: The restrictive covenant not to develop other than in . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Morris-Garner and Another v One Step (Support) Ltd CA 22-Mar-2016
Alleged breach of non-solicitation covenants in the sale of a business providing ‘supported living’ services for children leaving care and vulnerable adults.
Held: The defendant’s appeal was dismissed.
The test was whether an award of . .
At QBD – Morris-Garner and Another v One Step (Support) Ltd SC 18-Apr-2018
The Court was asked in what circumstances can damages for breach of contract be assessed by reference to the sum that the claimant could hypothetically have received in return for releasing the defendant from the obligation which he failed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Company
Updated: 19 October 2022; Ref: scu.533828