A developer has dropped a £2.4m claim it brought against three Carey Group firms over their role in the demolition bid-rigging scandal after reaching a legal settlement.
Circadian Ltd, a subsidiary of Hong Kong property giant CK Asset Holdings, lodged the claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in March for damages, plus interest and costs, from Carey Group and two of its subsidiaries: PJ Carey Plant Hire (Oval) and TE Scudder.
But this week, CAT chair Ben Tidswell announced that a settlement had been reached.
The terms reached were confidential, he said, adding that the entire claim had been withdrawn and no cost payments had been ordered.
Circadian brought the action in relation to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) 2022 bid-rigging findings against 10 demolition companies including Scudder, which was fined £8.3m by the watchdog.
The developer’s claim related to one of the infringements in the CMA’s investigation that took place in 2014 on a contract for work on the Lots Road redevelopment project in west London (pictured, in CGI form).
Lots Road is a luxury residential development in Chelsea, west London, built on the site of a former power station.
Circadian claimed it had suffered a loss due to receiving construction services at a higher price than it otherwise would.
The CMA concluded that Scudder and Brown and Mason participated in cartel activity on the Lots Road job between 28 July 2014 and 28 August 2014, followed by Scudder and Cantillon between 4 August 2014 and 1 September 2014.
According to Circadian’s claim form in the now-settled case, Carey Group and PJ Carey Plant Hire (Oval) were presumed to “exercise a decisive influence of the commercial policies of its wholly owned subsidiaries” and were therefore liable for TE Scudder’s involvement.
It claimed that it suffered “loss and damage as a consequence of the defendants’ unlawful agreements and/or concerted practices to fix the tender and supply of demolition services and asbestos removal services, to share commercially sensitive information, and not to compete properly in relation to construction services…”
Circadian, formerly called Lots Road Developments, was set up to develop the Lots Road project.
