Dubai distributor Sky Scrapers claims $US3.6 damages alleging Auckland company Zoono stopped supplying sanitiser when covid-19 spread, instead supplying product to Sky Scraper’s competitors in breach of a distributorship agreement.
Based in Auckland, Zoono Ltd’s ultimate owner is ASX listed Zoono Group. It manufactures commercial sanitising products. Sky Scrapers General Trading LLC is registered in Dubai. It told the High Court a ten year exclusive distributorship agreement was signed with Zoono in late 2018, covering United Arab Emirates, Oman and Lebanon. Sky Scrapers paid $US250,000 as advance payment for product to be delivered later. It took Sky Scrapers more than fifteen months to exhaust this credit. At the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, Zoono stopped supplying Sky Scrapers claiming its Dubai distributor had failed to make minimum annual purchases required under the distributorship agreement. This is disputed by Sky Scraper. There is confusion over what are the exact terms of their distributorship agreement. Zoono said it signed, without checking, what it presumed was its standard distributorship agreement at a 2018 signing ceremony in Dubai.
In the High Court, Justice Hinton dismissed Sky Scraper’s application for an injunction forcing Zoono to supply product. An injunction would be practicably unworkable, she said. The court is not in a position to police ongoing disputes over the supply of goods. Zoono said it has in excess of seven million dollars cash, available to pay damages if Sky Scraper succeeds at trial.
Sky Scrapers General Trading LLC v. Zoono Ltd – High Court (10.11.20)
20.173