Foundry admits going bust to avoid payouts
A foundry ordered to compensate its neighbours to the tune of £1.4 million due to bad smells was placed into administration to avoid having to pay out, bosses said today.
Directors at the Norton Canes-based Norton Aluminium said they made the move "in anticipation of an adverse judgment". Birmingham High Court last week ruled in favour of 132 claims brought by neighbours concerning bad smells from the Norton Green Lane plant. But, in advance of the hearing, Norton Aluminium, was placed in administration by the directors on September 18.
They then bought it back the same day through a new company they had set up.
Managing director Henry Dickinson said it was now trading under the same name but with a different business number and was thus a different legal entity.
An official statement from the company, which employs 63 people, read: "In anticipation of an adverse judgment and the possible award of costs and damages far in excess of the company's ability to pay, the directors placed the company into administration and a company controlled by the directors purchased the business and assets of the company later the same day."
Judge Martin McKenna ruled on Friday that the foundry had blighted the lives of residents due to its bad smells, but he dismissed claims relating to dust and noise. Residents have been locked in battle over the issue for almost a decade.
However, Norton Aluminium, which has operated on the site since 1952, does not agree with the ruling.
Law firm Hugh James, which is representing the residents, is now pursuing a claim for the money against Mr Dickinson and an initial case management conference hearing will now take place on December 3.
