Law Lords halt Crehan case

The Law Lords called an abrupt end to the Crehan v Nomura case on Monday saying they did not want to hear submissions about the level of damages awarded to the licensee.

The move meant the case ended sooner than expected but means a decision is still at least a month away.

Bernie Crehan, a former Inntrepreneur licensee, was awarded damages after courts found his tied lease had been illegal.

However, the pubco appealed and the case ended up before the Law Lords last week and was expected to go on until tomorrow.

Crehan's legal representative Rupert Croft, partner at Maitland Walker solicitors, told morningadvertiser.co.uk: "It did end sooner than expected because the Lords said they did not want to hear any submissions about damages awarded to Mr Crehan.​

"We believe the two most likely reasons for this are that they are either going to refer the case to the European Court of Justice or find in favour of Inntrepreneur. Our position was that, if they did not follow the Court of Appeal's judgment, they should refer the case. We are now hoping that they will do that."

Croft said that if the case is referred it could be another two years before it is settled - bringing the saga to 15 years in total.

He said if it was to be referred the announcement should be made at the end of July but if the Law Lords were deciding the case themselves it could take months for a decision.

Inntrepreneur is now part of Japanese bank Nomura.