Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby dutchman » Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:05 pm

Judge refuses Sisu appeal - and orders Sky Blues owners' to pay Coventry council's costs

The judge in charge of the High Court battle between Coventry City Council and the owners of the Sky Blues has rejected a request for permission to appeal against his judgment.

Mr Justice Hickinbottom has turned down a request from Sisu to appeal against his ruling after a three-day judicial review in June.

He has also ordered club owners Sisu to pay the council at least £250,000 in costs - with £100,000 due within a week and a further £150,000 due within 14 days.

The council claims it has spent in excess of £580,000 in legal costs but Sisu disputes the figures, meaning the remaining £330,000 will be scrutinised before a final figure is paid. Ricoh Arena operators ACL will have to meet their own costs.

On dismissing the application to appeal, the judge said: “The claimants contend that I made 'numerous and serious errors of fact'.

“A judge does not err simply because he does not draw factual conclusions which one party urges upon him...

“I did not accept the picture which the claimants sought to paint. I set out my factual conclusions, and the evidence upon which they were based...

“I do not accept that I was not entitled to make the factual findings I did make... and I do not consider there is a realistic possibility that the claimants would persuade the Court of Appeal that I was not entitled to make any of the material findings I did make.”

He also said he rejected the appeal as it was in “everyone’s interests” not to prolong matters.

You can view and download the High Court order and the appeal verdict below.

High Court Order.pdf

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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby rebbonk » Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:13 pm

I wonder if a bankruptcy order will be applied for anytime soon?
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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby dutchman » Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:34 pm

Football League orders Coventry City owners Sisu to pay ACL £471,000 in Ricoh row

One of the major obstacles to a potential Ricoh Arena return for the Sky Blues appears to have been removed after the Football League took decisive action.

Coventry City owners Sisu have been ordered to pay Ricoh Arena operators ACL the vast majority of the £590,000 ordered by the Football League at the start of last season as a condition of the Sky Blues being allowed to complete their fixtures. This was later disputed by the club’s owners.

The decision was taken after the Football League’s Board met at their London headquarters yesterday and came as the Telegraph took the #bringCityhome campaign to their doorstep as supporters called for the return of Coventry City to Coventry.

ACL had said any discussions about a possible return to the Ricoh Arena would not be possible until the issue was settled.

The amount £471,192 with an amount deducted for “costs” which the Telegraph understands relates to administrator’s fees.

The Football League’s chief executive, Shaun Harvey, said: “This has been a complex and unwelcome disagreement within a wider, more significant dispute.

“By concluding this matter, we can now allow all parties to concentrate on the more important issue of getting Coventry City playing its matches back in Coventry at the earliest opportunity.”

The original figure of £590,000 was what ACL could have received if it had accepted a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) for unpaid rent and compensation when the Sky Blues went into administration before the 2013/14 campaign.

Sisu appears to have successfully argued that ACL should bear the cost of the administrator’s fees from the moment they and HMRC rejected the CVA.

However, an argument that £300,000 paid to ACL by guarantors, and former chairmen, Mike McGinnity and MP Geoffrey Robinson should be deducted from the amount was rejected by the Football League.

The news could help clear the way for fresh talks over a Ricoh Arena return for the club with the other major issue now appearing to be whether or not Sisu will drop its legal challenge of the judgment in a recent judicial review.

A deadline for Sisu to appeal the judgment has been set for Friday, August 15 - but it is not yet clear if the owners will follow through with their previous intention to challenge the judge’s decision.

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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby rebbonk » Fri Aug 08, 2014 4:39 pm

The news could help clear the way for fresh talks over a Ricoh Arena return for the club


Would you want to deal with a company that had behaved like this?

Also, the comments from the fans on the CT pages display their continuing anger at SISU. My personal thought is that SISU has backed itself into a corner and there is no way out, bar selling up and going.
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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby dutchman » Fri Aug 08, 2014 4:52 pm

Coventry City owner Sisu pays council £150,000 in court costs

Coventry City’s owners Sisu have paid the second instalment of the council's court costs.

The £150,000 payment comes after the High Court in Birmingham awarded costs against the hedge fund following a three-day judicial review in June.

Coventry City Council officials today confirmed the authority had received a £150,000 instalment from Sisu.

The week before £100,000 was transferred.

Together with the £470,000 awarded by the Football League it means the club will pay out £720,000 over a three week period.

A spokesman for the council said today: “The council has received the £250,000 in full from Sisu in relation to the council’s legal costs and that satisfies the court order.”

The final legal costs figure for the judicial review is yet to be agreed and a potential appeal by Sisu could see them rise significantly.

The council claims to have spent over £500,000 on legal fees to date.

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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby rebbonk » Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:54 pm

Been a touch of an expensive week for SISU hasn't it?
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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby dutchman » Fri May 13, 2016 2:14 pm

Coventry City FC owners Sisu lose Ricoh Arena appeal

Coventry City FC owners Sisu have lost their appeal in a long running legal battle with Coventry City Council over the Ricoh Arena.

Senior judges Tomlinson, Treacy and Floyd handed down their judgment during a brief hearing at the Court of Appeal, in London at 10am today.

But Telegraph chief reporter Simon Gilbert says while this is no doubt is a set-back, Sisu still over options ahead for further legal action.

Read the full judgment by clicking the link below.

Court of Appeal decision

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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby rebbonk » Fri May 13, 2016 9:56 pm

Another expensive week for SISU.

I think they're now trying to do a Nabarro and prove that they can buy justice. - Good luck, and I hope they have very deep pockets because the only winners so far are the parasitical legal profession.
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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby dutchman » Fri May 13, 2016 10:27 pm

Coventry City’s owners to sue over council’s Wasps deal as Ricoh bailout appeal lost

APPEAL judges have today upheld a previous ruling that a £14.4million taxpayer bailout of the Ricoh Arena in 2013 was not an unlawful use of taxpayers’ money by Coventry City Council.

But Coventry City Football Club’s ‘owners’, the Sisu group of companies, will press ahead with a second judicial review, of the council’s later decision in October 2014 to sell the Sky Blues’ home ground to London rugby club Wasps on a massively extended 250-year lease not offered to the football club.

An application for a judicial review into the Wasps deal was lodged last year and was placed on hold pending today’s judgement.

It will contend that the Ricoh Arena stadium company was unlawfully sold on the cheap – at ‘undervalue’, given the huge extension on the lease – without the council conducting all relevant prior valuations.

Wasps bought the Ricoh company Arena Coventry Limited’s shares for around £5.5million from the council and Alan Edwards Higgs Charity, while agreeing to also pay back nearly all the £14.4million loan, minus £1million.

Yet an independent valuation by Strutt & Parker had valued the Ricoh under the terms of the deal at £48million.

Multi-million pound compensation could still be sought, which could affect the council and Wasps.

Coventry City’s owners, in a statement below, are also considering appealing today’s judgement in the Supreme Court, and other actions including a referral to the European Commission.

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Re: Coventry council taken to court for Ricoh Arena loan

Postby dutchman » Fri May 27, 2016 12:11 am

Coventry City owner's latest court appeal bid turned down

Coventry City owners Sisu have had the bid to appeal against their latest court defeat in the ongoing Ricoh Arena legal row turned down.

The owners want to appeal the Court of Appeal judgment handed down by three law lords on May 13 which followed a two-day appeal hearing in February this year.

That judgment backed a previous judgment from June 2014 when High Court judge Justice Hickinbottom cleared Coventry City Council of wrongdoing over a £14.4million loan to Ricoh Arena operating company ACL back in January 2013.

The High Court has today told Sisu it must apply directly to the Supreme Court so that court can decide whether it wishes to entertain a further appeal.

Alex Carter-Silk, a member of Sisu’s legal team, indicated to the Telegraph that it was “likely” his clients would press on with the legal action.

He said: “The Court of Appeal has directed that the issue of leave is to be left for the Supreme Court to decide, that timetable is set down by the Civil Procedure Rules unless varied.

“It is likely that my client to avail itself of the invitation by the Court of Appeal to refer the issue of leave to the Supreme Court.”

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