July 19th 2006 -
House of Lords rules in favour of Inntrepreneur Pub Company in Landmark Crehan Case

The House of Lords delivered judgement today in the long running test case of Inntrepreneur Pub Company (CPC) and others v Crehan.

Inntrepreneur has been completely successful. The House of Lords found that the national court was entitled, and indeed expected to decide whether or not the tie was in breach of Competition law. Anything else would have denied Inntrepreneur the right to a fair trial.

The judgement confirms the High Court decision of 2003 that Mr Crehan was not entitled to any damages.

Inntrepreneur will now seek to recover the costs from the Legal Services Commission which funded the litigation.

A spokesman from Inntrepreneur said he was sorry that it had taken so long to reach this conclusion. Inntrepreneur had always believed that the claims against the company were ill founded and that the tie was not in breach of Competition law. The company now hopes that all other claims against it can now quickly be resolved.

To view this press release as a PDF

Link to The Lawyer.com article

Link to Legalweek.com article

Contacts

Carmela Inguanta, Partner, Leisure Litigation carmelai@sghlaw.com (tel: 020 7544 5555)

Jacqui Lennon, Marketing jacquelinel@sghlaw.com (tel: 020 7544 5633)

About SGH

David Sprecher and Ian Grier founded the firm in 1984. It has now grown to a twenty partner commercial law practice with a wide range of clients including international household names, professional partnerships, listed companies, merchant banks, mortgage lenders as well as smaller family owned businesses.

SGH has an established reputation for providing a speedy and effective service to its business clients. The partners, who are all specialists in their chosen field, enjoy the support of a loyal, energetic and experienced staff, many of whom have been with the firm for a considerable number of years.

The firm has various specialist departments which all share in the common pro-active philosophy, striving to protect the client’s best interests at all times. The firm offers wide-ranging expertise covering practically every business need, including complex legal areas such as copyright, insolvency and mortgage lending, as well as essential legal proficiency in such areas as employment, debt collection, company commercial and property. The firm also has an extremely experienced department dedicated to the property needs of the leisure industry.