Failed attempt to overturn £177,000 tribunal judgment

by OUR BUSINESS STAFF

The only remaining director of a crisis-hit member of the Avocet group of companies has made an unsuccessful bid to have a £177,000 award to a former executive reconsidered by the employment tribunal service.

Avocet IP Ltd., involved in the patents and intellectual property business, failed to appear at a tribunal hearing held in March before Employment Judge Johnson. The claimant at the Manchester hearing was Iain Munro, Avocet's one time project director.

Mr Munro, employed by the company from 2018 to 2020, was successful with his claim that Avocet management had illegally deducted wages, in breach of employment law.

As we reported previously Judge Johnson ordered Avocet IP to pay Mr Munro £177,313 in what was yet another case brought against the group by ex-employees. In each instance the worker concerned has been successful with his or her claim.

Judge Johnson's published decision on the application for reconsideration of his judgment shows the bid for a "re-trial" had been made by Dr 'Bob' Jennings who was left as the sole director of Avocet IP following the enforced resignation of his business colleague Martin Frost. Mr Frost was declared bankrupt last October, and bankrupts are not permitted to hold company directorships.

In a case update the judge declares: "The respondent’s application dated 25 March 2022 (and further email dated 4 April 2022) for reconsideration of the judgment sent to the parties on 18 March 2022 is refused. There is no reasonable prospect of the original decision being varied or revoked".

 Judge Johnson then sets out his reasons for the decision as follows:

"1. Although the respondent’s representative has not formally requested that his emails be treated as application for reconsideration, it appears that he was effectively asking that reconsideration take place.

 "2. The Tribunal’s letter dated 1 April 2022 provided my summary of why the hearing 14 March 2022 should proceed in the absence of a respondent representative.

 "3. Mr Jennings has failed to provide any additional medical evidence in support of his application that reconsideration take place as requested by the Tribunal’s letter of 1 April 2022.

 "4. Mr Jennings is referred to my comments included in the Tribunal’s letter of 1 April 2022 and in the absence of any further relevant medical evidence being provided, I must conclude that it is not in the interests of justice to allow the application for reconsideration to proceed."

Avocet IP is one of several companies in the group who are way behind with their paperwork and filing of documents with Companies House.

Annual accounts for the year to December 31st 2020 should have been provided by September 30th 2021, but there is still no sign of them.

In addition, an updated Confirmation Statement was due to be filed by October 22nd 2021, but that document is also missing from the Companies House file.

An active proposal to strike off Avocet IP Ltd. from the register of companies was suspended in January.