Disheartening Sky Blue's Story On The Way.. (46 Viewers)

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
So the Charity issued legal proceedings to recover costs of legals etc when the talks were aborted, those costs having been agreed as payable before the talks started in May 2012 but not paid to date. £30k

January 2014 SISU issue a counter claim for their cost and botheration in talks that led to nothing. Clearly from the article the claim is a lot larger than the claim against them. They would have included all their legal and accountants fees but I would guess that they also included charges for the directors and staff that may have been involved, even costs of staff and directors at SISU Capital, not to mention travel costs and interest. That's not being biased btw that is how these claims are put together and SISU are entitled to do it if they see fit. The object is either to force the other side to back down, to panic, to ramp up the risk, even distress. So how much are we guessing £100k, 200K, 300k counter claim???

Can not help but think this is not the best move by SISU. In court the judge could throw both claims out and then its an argument on costs. How much has it cost already in legals? But the wider Coventry public is going to see a Coventry charity being sued by a football club hedge fund owners that resort to legal action repeatedly to get their way...... further alienating the club from Coventry

But it isn't the just the Alan Higgs Charity that will be affected. Each year the AEH Charity makes grants totalling in excess of £200k to 20 or 30 other Coventry organisations. That is now at risk.

only the lawyers win on this
 

Spionkop

New Member
Sorry, Dyson, Brush. Sweepers, Basil. Didn't Richard Brush have a decent football career in Scotland?
Otis and his wit. Like it.
 

James Smith

Well-Known Member
Just trying to figure out without being a lawyer.

When negotiations opened SISU said if things don't go through with the sale, they will cover Higg's costs
Things broke down
Council did the loan
Higgs start action to get the costs
SISU did a counter claim saying that Higgs is in with ACL so they must have known the council agreement was going to happen so are trying to counter claim their own costs back?

Is that the jist of it?
Something like that, I think Sisu are saying that the Higgs Charity were in it with the council and their dastardly plan to buy the loan. I'm just not sure how that fits in with the timeline posted by OSB58.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Just trying to figure out without being a lawyer.

When negotiations opened SISU said if things don't go through with the sale, they will cover Higg's costs
Things broke down
Council did the loan
Higgs start action to get the costs
SISU did a counter claim saying that Higgs is in with ACL so they must have known the council agreement was going to happen so are trying to counter claim their own costs back?

Is that the jist of it?

Apart from "things broke down" being "Sisu never came back to finalise" that's how I see it.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Honest question here... Would you rather nothing came out? As I said earlier, until we get a full inquiry, public legal actions could be our best bet.

IMHO, it's one thing to win or lose in the court of public opinion but totally different in an actual court where people & organisations can get fined or imprisoned and the supporting statements & documents are discussed publicly.

Honestly? Right now I don't care. I want Sisu out of the club.

Would I have an academic interest in seeing source documents? Sure.

Would it change my opinion of Sisus actions? No.
 

italiahorse

Well-Known Member
I had a claim against a travel company for an accident that happened abroad to my daughter in a hotel and it was the fault of the hotel management.
The household insurance legals picked it up.
The travel company lodged a £1M bond or something in the court to cover any expenses and the Insurance refused to tackle them because they would not match it.

Big business squashing the little man and it's all legal.
 

Nick

Administrator
So the agreement was there waiting for the signature and SISU just didn't sign on the dotted line?
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
What happened with the money owed for the tractor at the Higgs centre?

CCFC had to pay that to Alan Higgs Centre Trust to start the negotiations to go back in. Tractor costs have nothing to do with Higgs Charity Nick
 

andyboy81

New Member
So the agreement was there waiting for the signature and SISU just didn't sign on the dotted line?

See that's where I am getting lost.

Was there ever any report of
a) The deal being on the table ready to be signed?
or
b) That SISU walked out on the talks?

I remember the article coming out soon as CCC bailed out ACL but cant recall much between
 

GaryPendrysEyes

Well-Known Member
So is anyone going to be happy if Sisu take £100k+ off a Coventry charity in court???

"The Alan Edward Higgs Charity benefited from Higgs's entire estate of approximately £26 million. It was set up specifically to help deprived children from Coventry and within 25 miles of Coventry. Higgs's son Derek Higgs, who was knighted in 2004, and his daughter became the trustees. The charity has given millions of pounds to good causes over the years"
 

James Smith

Well-Known Member
So the agreement was there waiting for the signature and SISU just didn't sign on the dotted line?
Well the best person to ask would be PWKH but I suspect with yet another court case hanging around he won't be posting. He did say that they'd agreed heads of terms with sisu and that isn't binding as I understand it, but the Higgs were willing to sell to these 'people'.
 

Nick

Administrator
Was there a binding pre contract to say SISU would pay for the costs or was it a gents agreement?
 

Rob S

Well-Known Member
Apart from "things broke down" being "Sisu never came back to finalise" that's how I see it.

And this looks like a perfect situation for the courts. If Sisu are saying that the deal was scuppered because of the £14M CCC bailout rather than them pulling out then there's decent grounds for a dispute. (And I say that from an attempt at a neutral POV as a judge & jury would have to.)

If there is any good to come of this, at least we'll know what happened if it comes out in court.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
See that's where I am getting lost.

Was there ever any report of
a) The deal being on the table ready to be signed?
or
b) That SISU walked out on the talks?

I remember the article coming out soon as CCC bailed out ACL but cant recall much between

PWKH (Higgs trustee I think) said on here and possibly in the media that HoT were agreed with Sisu, they went away and we're never heard from again. Shortly after they were speaking to the Council about distressing ACL.

The accepted wisdom has been that Sisu agreed a price, then went to see if they could get it cheaper through the deal with CCC to distress ACL. CCC then get cold feet (possibly about distressing a charity, possibly bad PR, possibly don't trust Sisu) and decide to refinance ACL themselves using their access to cheap credit. Sisu move to Northampton and here we are.
 

Nick

Administrator
So SISU went to the council to talk about distressing ACL? Even though the council are involved with ACL??
 

James Smith

Well-Known Member
See that's where I am getting lost.

Was there ever any report of
a) The deal being on the table ready to be signed?
or
b) That SISU walked out on the talks?

I remember the article coming out soon as CCC bailed out ACL but cant recall much between

SISU had the chance from day 1 to purchase the Charity share at the option price and chose not to take it. By starting the rent boycott they stopped the ability to use the option price and walked away from the Higgs once they finally got talking :facepalm:
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
And this looks like a perfect situation for the courts. If Sisu are saying that the deal was scuppered because of the £14M CCC bailout rather than them pulling out then there's decent grounds for a dispute. (And I say that from an attempt at a neutral POV as a judge & jury would have to.)

If there is any good to come of this, at least we'll know what happened if it comes out in court.

Makes no sense though.

The deal with Higgs was agreed months before and was still on the table when CCC allegedly pulled out.
 

RoboCCFC90

Well-Known Member
So what was the disheartening news?

The Higgs are suing Sisu for charges, yet Sisu are deciding to sue them back, obviously you're not allowed to sue people who sued you first so there is a huge uproar about Sisu sueing a charity..
 

covcity4life

Well-Known Member
council should neve rhave bailed them out

reap what you sow?

i think our only hope is sisu smash acl and ccc and get the ricoh, any chance of a good will handshake has gone.
 

Nick

Administrator
Nick,
Are you happy with Sisu suing a Coventry charity for 100k+???

Of course I am, as I have stated many times on this thread. Is this another case of people not reading? In this thread I have literally just been trying to make sense of what has happened without the legal jargon but I must have mistakenly put things in posts that only you can see.
 

Mary_Mungo_Midge

Well-Known Member
council should neve rhave bailed them out

reap what you sow?

i think our only hope is sisu smash acl and ccc and get the ricoh, any chance of a good will handshake has gone.

Why don't you add 'SISU smash the Higgs Charity' to your shameless wish list?

Yeah. Go Timmy. Sod those kids. Nice one
 

Ashdown1

New Member
council should neve rhave bailed them out

reap what you sow?

i think our only hope is sisu smash acl and ccc and get the ricoh, any chance of a good will handshake has gone.

Clinically schizophrenic...........you must be, you change your mind about the whole shebang every other day. Who are you today and who will you be tomorrow !!?? FFS
 

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