The pub owner who sued Van Morrison over a cancelled gig had a victory of sorts in court yesterday.
As previously reported, landlord Gary Marlow booked Morrison to play at his Wiltshire pub in summer 2002 following a number of similarly ambitious pub events. But the singer pulled out at the last minute, later claiming Marlow had broken contract obligations over publicity. The landlord claimed that not only did he lose immediate ticket sales income because of the cancellation, but that Morrison's no-show damaged the reputation of his pub and lost him thousands in regular income. He sued for £400,000.
In court yesterday a judge agreed with Marlow that Morrison was in breach of contract when he cancelled the gig. However he did not agree with the level of commercial impact the cancellation caused and awarded the landlord £40,000 damages, which includes the return of the £20,000 advance Morrison was paid.
Marlow seemed pleased with the result, telling reporters: "I would like to say that I am absolutely thrilled that we have taken on one of the kings of rock and we have won. Unfortunately we didn't get what we should have had but nevertheless we have beaten him."
But Morrison's lawyer Thomas Croxford also claimed victory, telling reporters that his client had offered higher damages in a proposed out of court settlement. To add insult to injury Croxford now intends to try and get the courts to deduct much of Morrison's £31,500 court costs from the damages settlement.
From: CMU
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