Monday 24 January 2011

Lotus tug of war heads for full trial in March


Well, an interesting day to some degree.

I journeyed down to the High Courts in London for the hearing over the naming rights over the Lotus brand. Unsure of what to expect other than the matter to remain unresolved, I headed into the impressive building and proceeded to bump into some pompous Etonian lawyer who looked at me like I'd just slapped his wife in the face with a prize-winning haddock!


I apologized but that only generated a small huff and grunt from my victim. Poor bloke. Must have been a harrowing experience for him.

Actually no, what a .... better stop there I think. Don't want a liable on me.

Anyway, into the foyer of where the hearing was taking place. Entering the immediate vicinity, the lawyers from both Group Lotus and Team Lotus talked as though they were representing the same client, which took me by surprise a little.

Carrying boxes of papers that seemed to number in their millions, I followed in behind the parties and took my seat in the court only to be told by some bloke in a black gown that the chair I was sitting in was reserved for the Judge...

I quickly grabbed another where the other journalists were sat and waited for the Judge to appear.

Suddenly, as if from no-where, a man who could not have looked anymore like SuperMario, appeared and sat down at the head of the court – he may have been something of importance I think.

Yep. He was. The lawyer for Group Lotus called him ‘Mu’Lord’ and began to outline the reasons why we were all here and not in the pub!

Then, just as the whole thing was starting to get interesting, the court was adjourned for the two parties to work out a proposed date for the full trial to commence.

Of course, now it is set for 21st March but one has to hope a settlement will be reached before then as it will do F1 no good to have this situation come Bahrain in 6 weeks.

Nothing more really to add to what happened today except to say the date was set, no one wanted to give me an official quote on the outcome and then to top it all off, I nearly get run over by some lunatic on a bicycle as I cross the road.

Till next time…

No comments:

Post a Comment