The following are extracts from an article, written by Nic Hopkins, which appeared in The Times of 2 August, 2003:

The finishing line was in sight at the High Court yesterday but at the last moment Eddie Jordan decided to pull his team out of the contest. It led to an unusual pit stop for lawyers when the Formula One boss abandoned his £150million court battle over a missed sponsorship with Vodafone and asked the court to keep the imminent judgment a secret.

Mr Justice Langley, who had been due to give his ruling yesterday afternoon, said that it was a “remarkable situation”. He did not see why the court should be deprived of its power in the public interest to hand down its judgment on a matter that had involved serious allegations. Alan Boyle, QC, for Jordan, said: “My clients are concerned that there may be damage to their business if the judgment is published.” Jordan’s solicitors were given until 4pm on Monday to provide a reason why the judgment should not be heard.

Jordan Grand Prix, which was founded by the Irish entrepreneur in 1991, faces a £6 million bill for both sides’ costs in the four-week court battle and there were fears about its financial future last night.

Eddie Jordan denied that his GP team would be in peril

The legal case hinged on four words — “You’ve got the deal” — that Mr Jordan says were uttered to him by David Haines, Vodafone’s global branding director, on the telephone on March 22, 2001. Mr Boyle, for Jordan, had urged the judge to hold that the words brought into existence a binding £94 million three-year sponsorship contract. Vodafone, which went on to sponsor Ferrari instead, argued that it was unheard of for such deals to be cemented verbally. Mr Justice Langley said that after hearing testimony from both sides, including that of Mr Jordan and Mr Haines, there had been “enormous conflicts of evidence”.

The proceedings closed on Tuesday, when the judge told the parties that he hoped to give his judgment at the end of this week or the beginning of the next. The two sides were then informed that a draft judgment would be handed down in court yesterday. Instead, Jordan’s solicitors informed the judge’s clerk that the action was being discontinued.

The judge said he did not see why the court should be deprived of its power to hand down a judgment because of the unilateral action of one party, which had chosen to make serious allegations about a public company and to question the veracity and motivation of one, or possibly two, of its senior officers in a public arena, in pursuit of a claim for millions. “Now, in effect, it says that no one should be told the outcome — at the very last second we have found that we can run up the white flag and stifle the court from publicly announcing its decision on allegations made and pursued. That is designed to create a serious injustice which this court should not tolerate.

“Vodafone is entitled to know the court’s conclusions and the media also has a legitimate public interest in being informed of the outcome of the matter. Vodafone and its officers are entitled, if they are so advised, to comment publicly on the outcome. If they are vindicated, it is unjust that they are not able to have that publicly established.”

Mr Boyle replied: “We have abandoned that case and agreed to pay indemnity costs. We have abandoned the claim. If that is not putting up our hands I don’t know what is. That ought to be a sufficient exoneration in the circumstances of this case.”

Charles Aldous, QC, for Vodafone, responded that Jordan had “no absolute right to discontinue”. He added: “We see this as a blatant abuse of process by Jordan. Our claim is that it was a completely unjustifiable attempt to extract money from Vodafone.” He added that the judgment should be heard, adding: “Vodafone are entitled to have their reputation vindicated.”

Mr Jordan, the only team founder to hold a controlling stake in his team, vowed to continue racing. He said: “Regretfully it became clear that we were not going to win and, for the good of the team and for Formula One, it is my decision to withdraw now. “We will take the judgment on the chin, and I must now channel all my energy to getting Jordan Grand Prix back on track for the rest of the year and for many years to come.”

The case was brought by Jordan Grand Prix rather than Mr Jordan himself, who is estimated to be worth about £60 million.

The blow could hardly come at a worse time. Mr Jordan said before yesterday’s hearing that Jordan Grand Prix would not be in peril if it had to pay out millions in legal bills. He said: “Not at all, we have always been in profit, we are a successful business.”

The team runs on an annual budget of about £30 million, which is a shoestring relative to the budgets of rivals such as Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, which run into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.