Vodafone and EE back at court over Phones4U legal fallout
Telecoms giants are “vigorously defending” against the Phones4U legal proceedings as the mammoth £1bn lawsuit is back at the London court.
Founded in 1987 by billionaire John Caudwell as Midlands Mobile Phones, Phones 4U was acquired for £1.47bn by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.
Once one of the large independent mobile phone retailers in the UK, Phones4U was placed into administration in 2014 as mobile operators increasingly opened their own high street stores.
The company was shut down after EE and Vodafone were the last network partners to terminate their contracts.
The administrators launched legal action against several telecom giants, including EE and Vodafone, arguing that the network operators coordinated the cut-off and colluded to remove Phones4U from the market.
US law firm Quinn Emanuel was called on to bring the nearly £1bn claim, which was filed in 2018, over an alleged anti-competitive breach of contract.
Four years later, the case went to trial at the High Court from May to July.
Courtroom battle
At the hearing, the administrators for Phones4U alleged that senior executives from EE, O2, and Vodafone, together with EE’s former parent companies, Orange and Deutsche Telekom – colluded on various occasions between 2012 and 2014 to terminate their contracts with Phones4U.
Over a year later, Mr Justice Roth handed down his decision and rejected all of Phones4U’s claims. The judge also mandated interim payments, imposed interest, and awarded costs.
Now, the parties are back at the Court of Appeal. From Monday until this Friday, Sir Julian Flaux, Lord Justice Phillips, and Lady Justice Falk will hear the administrators’ arguments to overturn Mr Justice Roth’s several orders.
Vodafone’s latest financial statements state that it is “vigorously defending the appeal”; however, it “is not able to estimate any possible loss in the event of an adverse judgement on appeal.”
While the BT Group (of which EE is a part ) stated that this appeal judgement will be expected “some months later” but added, “We continue to dispute these allegations vigorously.”