Dubai restauranteur 'Roberto' loses court appeal
Dubai restaurateur Paolo Roberto Rella has lost an appeal against a ruling that he pay his former business partner AED197,336 ($54,000) and forfeit his share of the well-known Roberto’s Club in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
The court decision, released this week by the DIFC Courts, comes as Rella – who was fired from his former club for alcohol-related issues – prepares to launch his new venture, TRE by Roberto Rella at the Radisson Royal hotel in Dubai.
“I am extremely excited to introduce TRE to the region, an opening that I view as the culmination of my career to date,” Rella said in a statement announcing the Italian restaurant in March.
The restauranteur has been fighting a bitter court case to save his name and bank balance for the past two years.
In April 2013, Rella was fired as the managing partner in Roberto’s Club. He had drunk too much during operating hours and hosted too many after-work drinking sessions on the premises, despite warnings, Emain Kadrie, a wealthy businessman who had put up the entire $2 million capital to open the club, said in Rella’s termination letter that was tendered to DIFC Courts.
Rella not only lost his job, but because the termination was for “serious cause”, Kadrie contended that he also legally forfeited his right to shares worth 17 percent of the company that owned Roberto’s Club.
Kadrie also demanded he pay back his work credit card, an unpaid restaurant bill from months before his sacking, more than $27,000 in medical bills paid for by the company and his unexpired housing rent.
Taking away salary and holiday entitlements Kadrie agreed to, he said Rella owed him and his company AED197,336 – on top of forfeiting the shares.
But Rella contested that he had been wrongfully dismissed, claiming that by April 2013, Kadrie had decided to “get rid” of him, possibly taking advantage of his contacts and clients, and to reclaim the shares that had been appointed to Rella.
Kadrie, Rella and two other smaller partners had agreed in 2011 to set-up the restaurant, with Kadrie to fully fund the capital and initial operating costs and Rella to contribute his expertise and reputation.
The four men entered an agreement whereby Kadrie would own 70 percent of the company’s shares and Rella would own 30 percent, with 13 percent of that to be held in trust for the other two members, who were both part of the management team.
Any of the men would forfeit their shares if they resigned or were sacked within five years.
Rella told the court during a proceeding in May, 2014, that he had sought help for his alcohol abuse and reduced his consumption to 5-6 glasses of wine a week. He also had told this to Kadie during meetings to discuss him returning to the business before his termination and had insisted that he was fit to return to work.
In a counterclaim, Rella sought “notice pay” and various other entitlements, a declaration that he was the legal owner of 30 percent of the share capital in the company, an order for Kadrie and his company to buy out Rella, an order requiring the transfer to him of the ownership of the Roberto’s trademark, and other damages.
But in his ruling, deputy chief justice Sir John Chadwick said it was “impossible to contend” that Rella had been wrongfully dismissed.
“He failed to adhere to, and violated continually, company expectations and policies in relation to the consumption of alcohol at the restaurant which he had, himself, been party to establishing,” Sir John’s written judgment says.
“That failure to adhere to – and that violation of – those company expectations and policies in those circumstances seem to me to demonstrate, in ample measure, that he could no longer be relied up on to make the contribution on the basis of which he was admitted to participation in the joint venture.”
In a judgment issued on October 29, 2014, Sir John accepted all of Kadrie’s claim, except that Rella repay his medical bills, which related to surgery in July, 2012, and had been partially covered by the company’s health insurance.
Sir John dismissed each point in Rella’s counterclaim, except some entitlements that already had been agreed to with Kadrie.
Rella’s application to appeal the judgment was dismissed by DIFC Court Judge Sir David Steel on April 27.
Rella also was ordered to pay the costs of Kadrie and Roberto’s Club.
Rella's public relations representatives have not responded to requests for a comment.
