Specsavers cleared of conspiracy in British High Court case

Ms Birdi, who was a joint venture partner and director of Specsavers in Dartford in 2010, claimed that her former joint venture partner, Kam Singh, had conspired with Specsavers to force her out of the business.
Mr Justice Nugee ruled in favour of Specsavers Optical Group and Mr Singh, who rains as joint venture partner of the Dartford practice.
Joint managing director of Specsavers in the United Kingdom, Mr Richard Holmes, said: “I am very pleased with the outcome, but it saddens me that we ended up in court at all, as I know that we did everything we could sensibly do to resolve the situation amicably with Ms Birdi.”
The High Court case was the third in a series of court battles fought by Spaecsavers against former joint-venture partners, two of which were settled out of court earlier this year.
No decision has yet been made regarding legal costs and Ms Birdi’s legal representatives are considering an appeal.
In March this year, Specsavers agreed to settle two High Court cases out of court “on mutually-satisfactory terms”.
The settlent brought to an end a lengthy legal battle which saw Specsavers taken to the High Court in 2013 by a number of joint-venture partners, over alleged breaches of shareholders’ agreents.??The agreent involved claimants from two cases: Dr Helle Poulsen of West Sussex, who owned and operated a Specsavers store in Bognor Regis, and former business partner Barry Weller; and in the second case, Shakila Parham and John Parham, of East Sussex, who owned and operated a Specsavers store in Uckfield. Full details of the settlent have not been released.
Commenting on the settlent, a spokesperson for Specsavers said at the time: “We are delighted to confirm that the proceedings brought by former partners in Bognor Regis and Uckfield against Specsavers have been settled on mutually-satisfactory terms prior to a judgment being handed down. The terms of that settlent are strictly confidential and we will make no further comment on the matter.”