Jordan tries to head-off public ruling

Jordan had been attempting to claim damages from Vodafone for allegedly reneging on a verbal agreement between a Vodafone director and team principal Eddie Jordan in 2001, prior to the telecommunication company's sponsorship of Ferrari.

By attempting to drop the case yesterday (Friday) and agreeing to pay Vodafone's costs, Jordan was hoping to prevent the judgement being made public. The team is understood to have a prospective blue chip sponsorship in the wings, which could be put off by any adverse court proclamation.

High Court judge Mr Justice Langley, however, dismissed the team's last-minute application for a discontinuation notice, accusing Jordan of trying "to run up the white flag at the last second." He asserted that it was an attempt to "stifle the court from publicly announcing its decision" and "was designed to create a serious injustice which the court should not tolerate."

Alan Boyle, QC for Jordan, said that the subject matter was not of sufficient public interest to warrant publication of the judgement, and admitted that his client had legitimate concern that there might be damage to his business.

Boyle's opposite number for Vodafone, Charles Aldous QC, said that publication "should not be gagged by a late attempt to discontinue."

Should the judgement be made public, this will happen either on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.