Two Dubai-based entrepreneurs who lost their business “without good reason” could net up to US$36.1m in damages if they win their upcoming court case, Arabian Business can exclusively reveal.
In 2004 Nelke van Aspert and her partner Frans Giezen bought the rights to distribute fitness brand Power Plate to the Arab market and have since sold 650 machines worth up to US$10,800 each.
It was the issuing of a contract last spring however, which brought an abrupt end to the Dutch couple’s flourishing business.
Power Plate International (PPI) had been taken over by US private equity investor J.H.Whitney and Co and the couple were due to sign a new, updated contract. After a Dubai law firm found the contract to contain five clauses that were illegal under UAE law, van Aspert and Giezen refused to sign and, in October 2006, PPI cancelled their current contract. Having helped them win four summary cases in the Dutch courts to date, lawyer Marielle Koppenol-Laforce, of law firm Houthoff Buruma, said she was confident the pair would receive a large compensation payout.
“We have asked for €27m (US$36.1m). We are absolutely confident that we will win the case and we will certainly get awarded damages,” she told Arabian Business.
The case against PPI, to be held in the Dutch courts in June, follows four summary cases all won in favour of van Aspert and Giezen. As well as two rulings halting legal proceedings raised by PPI against the couple in Dubai, PPI was ordered to pay van Aspert and Giezen €500,000 (US$665,000) on February 1st and then €20,000 (US$26,500) every month up to a total value of €900,000 (US$1.2m). No payments have been made to date, however, and the courts have blocked PPI’s and its Dutch director’s assets.
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