Jordan Grand Prix is facing a £1 million sterling (€1.44 million) legal bill following an English court ruling yesterday that resulted from the company's failed bid to sue telecoms giant Vodafone for £150 million.
The English High Court ordered Jordan to pay £1 million to cover Vodafone's costs for the case, which collapsed dramatically in August after the Formula 1 company withdrew its claim just hours before a ruling was due.
Mr Justice Langley yesterday accepted the company's commitment to pay £600,000 within 14 days and the balance by January 1st, 2004. Vodafone had costs of £1.5 million, while Jordan claimed that it was only entitled to £600,000.
Jordan, whose shareholders are its chief executive, Irish businessman Mr Eddie Jordan, and a group of anonymous Irish investors, sued Vodafone for £150 million for breach of contract. It claimed the telecoms giant had reneged on a three-year, nine-figure sponsorship deal, which was supposed to have begun this year. The company alleged that Vodafone had pulled out of the deal in favour of an agreement with Ferrari.
The case hinged on a claim that Vodafone global brand manager Mr David Haines said to a Jordan representative "you have a deal" during a telephone conversation in mid 2001. The Formula 1 team's lawyers argued that the words constituted a binding agreement.
However, Mr Justice Langley condemned Jordan Grand Prix in August for launching a "contrived and unsustainable" case.
In his findings, issued on August 4th, the judge was particularly critical of Mr Jordan.
"I regret to say that I found Mr Jordan to be a wholly unsatisfactory witness," he said.
"His evidence was, in many instances, in stark contrast with, and even belied by, the documents, often documents of his own making.
"On occasions, even Mr Jordan was unable to offer an explanation and was reduced to embarrassed silence by the exposure of blatant inaccuracies."
Justice Langley also declared that the foundation for the case was clearly demonstrated to be false and said it was highly improbable that a sponsorship deal on the scale claimed by Jordan Grand Prix would be made in the manner claimed by the company.
Just two weeks ago, it was announced that a number of un-named Irish investors had bought investment bank Warburg Pincus's 49.9 per cent stake in Jordan Grand Prix, which is registered in the UK. Dublin-based Merrion Capital did the deal, which some sources valued at €15 million. Warburg originally paid £40 million for the holding.
Jordan Grand Prix ended the season ninth out of 10 in the constructors' championship.
