Etihad and Aldar to appeal $4.68m Force India damages
Strongly disagree with judgment and its conclusions — joint statement
Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties have decided to appeal a London High Court judgement that held the two firms liable to pay the Force India Formula One team $4.683 million (Dh17.20 million) in damages as compensation for a terminated sponsor deal.
"Both Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties were surprised at the judgment and strongly disagree with its conclusions. We have been advised that there are strong grounds for appealing the decision and will be pressing on with an immediate appeal," the two companies said in a joint statement.
According to SportsProMedia.com, which broke the story last week, Etihad, the title sponsor of the Force India team, switched its sponsorship to the Ferrari team for the 2008 season citing conflict with Kingfisher, the airline owned by Force India shareholder Vijay Mallya.
The original three-year deal was signed between the team and Etihad on April 16, 2007, and agreed at $5 million for 2007, $6 million for 2008 and $9 million for 2009.
Bonus clauses were also incorporated in the deal which meant the team could earn $100,000 for each championship point it scored and $500,000 for each place in the overall championship.
The cost of the sponsorship was split 60 per cent for Etihad and 40 per cent for Aldar, builder of the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Judge Gray said the damages would have been much higher if the team had not mitigated its loss by finding replacement sponsors.
