It ordered that the company should pay indemnity costs following an unsuccessful appeal against a decision finding that they had unfairly dismissed one of their employees, Antonio Vieira, but it stopped short of making Director Gino Risoli personally liable.
Mr Vieira’s lawyer Advocate Jeremy Heywood argued that Mr Risoli should be liable, and highlighted that Mr Vieira was yet to receive any of the money due following his successful claim for unfair dismissal.
This sum amounted to between £10,932 and £14,199 depending on agreement over his weekly wage, the court heard.
Pictured: The case was originally heard by the Employment Tribunal.
At the latest hearing before Commissioner Matthew Thompson, sitting alone, the court dealt with Mr Vieira’s application for costs, following the failed appeal against the tribunal’s original finding.
Reviewing the grounds of that appeal, Commissioner Thompson found that many amounted simply to trying to overturn findings of fact which the tribunal had made.
Summarising them, he said: “I am satisfied that in relation to all the grounds relied on by the appellant, they were hopeless or alternatively doomed to failure or were never going to succeed. An order for indemnity costs is therefore justified against the appellant and I order accordingly.”
But the Commissioner declined to go further and order that Mr Risoli should be personally responsible for the costs.
“There is a distinction between pursuing hopeless arguments and pursing them in bad faith or improperly. I am not satisfied that Mr Risoli was conducting the
appeal in such a manner,” he said.
Since the company was not a shell company without assets or value, it was open to Mr Vieira to try to wind up the company or to apply to the Viscount to seize funds from bank accounts operated by Design Foods, the Commissioner said.
“The fact that the respondent has not been paid by the appellant in my judgment also does not justify a costs order being made against Mr Risoli personally,” he added.
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