Vodafone Pleased with Court Decision

Mobile phone giants Vodafone were pleased with the decision from London's High Court to order the Jordan Formula One team to pay for two-thirds of their costs for a failed lawsuit.

"Vodafone had incurred significant cost in defending this action," a company spokesperson told Atlas F1. "The company is, for obvious reasons, anxious to secure these costs as far as possible. The judge clearly agreed."

Jordan had argued that Vodafone were entitled only to 600,000 pounds ($1 million) while the company had sought a total of 1.5 million ($2.51 million). Mr Justice Langley accepted Jordan's offer to pay 600,000 pounds within 14 days and the remainder to follow on January 1, 2004.

"Vodafone was fully entitled to approach this case as one of significant reputational and commercial importance," Langley was quoted as saying, adding that the level of fees charged by the lawyers was "appropriate for litigation of this kind."

The same judge criticised Jordan in August for launching a "contrived and unsustainable" 150 million pound ($241.7 million) damages case against Vodafone over an alleged sponsorship deal. He also pointed to a number of "blatant inaccuracies" in Jordan's oral evidence.

Jordan launched the claim in the High Court in June, arguing that Vodafone had wrongly pulled out of an agreement to sponsor Jordan's cars only to back rival Ferrari. The trial lasted six weeks with Jordan applying to abandon his claim at the 11th hour and offering to pay all of Vodafone's costs at the highest indemnity level.

The judge said on Friday that Vodafone were entitled to the costs of the case, and that the figures being talked about did not surprise or concern him because of the commercial importance to Vodafone of defending the claims.