Pearls from the Outer Temple…
Posted by Ricky in Opinion under Fishersgate | on Aug 13 2008
Adur District Council, perhaps from an atavistic instinct for self-preservation, consulted counsel in chambers on the percentage chances of success for the embattled Fishersgate Trustees in their legal struggles with CME, ADC’s chosen developer and partner in the disastrous Fishersgate Dome project. Counsel, whose chambers are in London’s evocatively named Outer Temple, had to be as sharply observant as Solomon, given he hadn’t even been told the matter was already before the courts and had only very partial documentation.
3.3 A general point which should be made at the outset before considering the merits of the claims in detail is that the evidence of Mrs W...(*) is conspicuous in its absence from the evidence served to date in support of the trustees’ defence and counterclaim. From both the evidence of Mr A...(*) and the evidence from the
trustees and Mr PA...(*), it appears that Mrs W...(*) was the central figure in the events leading up to the dispute in particular she was involved in the discussions
leading to the signing of the PMA as well as being closely involved during the construction phase particularly in the process of releasing funding obtained by FCA to CME. The absence of any evidence from Mrs W...(*) or from Mr L...(*) who appears to have been involved in the negotiation of the Loan Agreement leaves a significant lacuna in the trustees’ evidence. In addition, Mr A...(*)’s evidence, particularly at paragraph 64, gives the impression that the Council was directly involved in overseeing both the financial aspects of the works as well as the design issues.
If this evidence is unchallenged difficult questions are raised about the Council’s role in the management of the project.(1)
(*) names have been withheld, temporarilly..
(1) but, of course, the missing evidence referred to, and much more besides, has never been provided, the evidence to be challenged has not been challenged, and the difficult questions raised, remain without answers.
