The High Court has handed down its judgment this morning in South Bank Hotel Management Company Limited v Galliard Hotels & Ors [2024] EWHC 2484 (Ch), following a 3-week trial. The freehold owner of the Park Plaza County Hall Hotel (SBHMC) claimed that Galliard – who had developed the hotel site in the early 2000s – had improperly retained a long lease over a commercial building adjacent to the hotel that was eventually incorporated into the hotel’s footprint. The lease was granted to a company called Lodgeshine, part of the Galliard group, in 2008. SBHMC accused various Galliard entities and the co-founder and executive chairman of the Galliard group, Stephen Conway, of deliberately concealing the lease and of acting dishonestly and in breach of trust.
Mr Justice Richards dismissed the claim and found that Mr Conway (and the Galliard companies) had acted honestly and reasonably. The Judge held that the lease to Lodgeshine had been validly executed and rejected all of the allegations of wrongdoing and concealment that had been made by SBHMC. He went on to conclude that many of SBHMC’s claims were statute barred and none were saved by any of the exceptions in s.21(1)(a) and (b) or s.32(1)(a) and (b) of the Limitation Act 1980. The Judge consequently upheld Lodgeshine’s claim for more than £1.4m in unpaid rent.
Nicholas Trompeter KC, Simon McLoughlin and Isabel Petrie acted on behalf of the successful Defendants. They were instructed by Keith Pearlman and Helen Sheerin of DMH Stallard.
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