A court order to stay out of the restaurant business for the next 21 months has left a bitter taste in the mouth of Twing sushi outlet owner Antoinette Twynham.
A court order to stay out of the restaurant business for the next 21 months has left a bitter taste in the mouth of Twing sushi outlet owner Antoinette Twynham.
Twynham remains defiant, however, and says she's appealed last Friday's judgment in the High Court in Grahamstown, and is prepared to take it further.
The judgment is the outcome of a dispute between Twynham and fellow Grahamstown restaurateur, La Trattoria owner, Liza Caporossi, that began more than a year ago. Caporossi alleged that in opening her sushi outlet, Twynham, who sold her the former Bella Vita, an Italian restaurant on 131 High Street, in April last year, had breached a restraint of trade clause.
She accordingly sued Twynham late last year and the case was heard in May. While the judgment puts a question mark over the future of the popular sushi outlet in Pepper Grove mall, it's business as usual for Twynham while she awaits the appeal.
Because the High Court is in recess, this will be only after 23 July. Twynham said if her appeal in the regional court failed, she would take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. But whatever the outcome, she said, “Twing won’t close”. Caporossi declined to comment.
THE INGREDIENTS
April 2010 Antoinette Twynham sells Bella Vita, an Italian restaurant, on 131 High Street, to Liza Caporossi, who opens under the name La Trattoria, which is also an Italian restaurant. Twynham had signed a restraint of trade clause in the sale contract.
September 2010 Twynham opens Twing, a sushi restaurant, in Pepper Grove mall.
Late 2010 Twynham becomes aware that Caporossi is suing her for allegedly breaching the restraint of trade clause in the sale agreement.
12 May 2011 The case is heard by Judge Clement Sangoni in the High Court in Grahamstown.
24 June 2011 Justice Clement Sangoni rules that in opening Twing, Twynham had been in breach of her agreement with Caporossi and that Twynham must stay out of the restaurant and coffee shop business in Makana until 1 April 2013. Twynham was ordered to pay costs. Twynham appealed the ruling.
THE OUTCOME The court ruled that Twynham was "in breach of the provisions of the restraint of trade clause" of her March 2010 agreement with Caporossi. The ruling calls for the interdiction and restraint of Twynham for three years from 1 April 2010. It says Twynham may not be involved in the business side of any restaurant or coffee shop, in any capacity, within Grahamstown and the greater Makana municipality.
