Clarence Court and egg entrepreneur clash over land option
The Court of Appeal has today (20 December) ruled that a dispute between egg giant Clarence Court and the family of egg entrepreneur Michael Kent must go to trial.
Michael Kent, the former chief executive of egg company Stonegate/Deans Food, and his sister, Christine Chapman, are suing Clarence Court, saying they are entitled to exercise an option to buy a parcel of land in Corby, Northamptonshire, from Clarence Court.
Kent had been granted the 15-year option in 2006 to buy the land for £500,000. The land had planning permission to develop a poultry farm.
The Court of Appeal has today (20 December) ruled that a dispute between egg giant Clarence Court and the family of egg entrepreneur Michael Kent must go to trial.
Michael Kent, the former chief executive of egg company Stonegate/Deans Food, and his sister, Christine Chapman, are suing Clarence Court, saying they are entitled to exercise an option to buy a parcel of land in Corby, Northamptonshire, from Clarence Court.
Kent had been granted the 15-year option in 2006 to buy the land for £500,000. The land had planning permission to develop a poultry farm.
In a ruling handed down today, Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Coulson explained the intricate corporate history behind the claim.
The business currently known as Clarence Court was formed by a consolidation of businesses in the egg industry that the UK Competition Commission cleared in 2007, with the proviso that the Stonegate/Deans Food business be divested.
12 years later, in 2019, Kent assigned the option to his sister, Chapman. She sought to exercise the option to buy the land in 2020, and Clarence Court refused. She sued.
In 2021, her lawyers sought summary judgment, saying that there was “no arguable defence” to her claim, and the option should be exercised.
Clarence Court appealed, and in today’s ruling the Court of Appeal backed Clarence Court.
The specific issue related to the corporate history of the land. Lawyers for Clarence Court argued that the land was previously part of the Stonegate business, and therefore the option was at odds with the Competition Commission’s order to divest the Stonegate/Deans Food business.
In 2021, the judge found that the land was not part of the Stonegate business.
However, in today’s ruling, the Court of Appeal said the judge was “wrong” to make this conclusion.
The three-judge panel dismissed the previous summary judgment and said the matter must go to trial at the High Court.
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