Developer wins $4m interest in second win over Woolies

Woolworths has suffered another loss in its court battle over the planned construction of a Masters hardware store.

The troubled Woolworths hardware franchise Masters. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Supreme Court has handed out another bruising loss to Woolworths over its long-running court battle with a property developer over the planned construction of a Masters hardware store in regional Victoria, with the judge claiming lawyers for the supermarket giant had made a “false analogy” in their arguments using submissions that were “misconceived”.

Judge Clyde Croft has awarded an additional interest bill of $4.297 million to the $10.875m damages he awarded in January to businessman Brendan Blake, the founder of Maxi Foods and owner of property developer North East Solution.

At the time Justice Croft found that Woolworths failed to act in good faith with Mr Blake’s North East Solution after it dumped its deal with the property developer in 2010 to build and lease a Masters store, walking away from the contract to chase another nearby site.

It was a huge victory for Mr Blake and his lawyers at Tisher Liner FC Law, although Woolworths had decided to appeal that decision.

The second leg of the case was a battle over interest charges and costs related to Mr Blake’s win in January.

Mr Blake’s counsel was arguing for $4.2m in interest to cover the four years they had locked horns with the nation’s biggest retailer.

Woolworths was asking the court for the interest component of the damages bill to be divided between past and future losses that in effect push down the interest payment to only $256,441.

Justice Croft yesterday found in favour of Mr Blake and set the bill at $4.297m.

In his judgment, Justice Croft held that the lawyers for Woolworths had drawn a “false analogy” between this case and personal injury cases when setting out their arguments and that the Woolworths submissions were “misconceived”.

A spokeswoman for Woolworths said yesterday: “We remain disappointed with the orders and will be appealing the decision.”

Woolworths is still in discussions with its joint venture partner in Masters, US hardware giant Lowe’s, to buy back its one third stake in the loss-making hardware chain.