A court has thrown out a petition by a Kenyan firm seeking $1,380,000 (about Sh149 million) in damages from Nokia. TechnoService had sued the Finnish company for alleged breach of contract. According to the Kenyan firm, Nokia sold its business to Microsoft Corporation in 2014 while still in partnership with them.
While rejecting the application, Justice Chacha Mwita said the two firms were last year referred to arbitration, and as such, the courts could not interfere with proceedings.
“In the circumstances, granting leave to appeal will delay the resolution of the dispute which parties had committed to avoiding when they opted for arbitration,” the Judge said.
Technoservice had sued Nokia 2020 accusing the multination of breaching a 2006 partnership deal by selling the business in 2014. The sale also resulted in the transfer of several Nokia Centres to Microsoft.
Technoservice went to court seeking to get $1,380,000 (about Sh149 million) plus damages and loss of earnings for the business it had created for the nine years they were partners with Nokia Ltd.
Named as the 4 defendants in the case were Nokia Corporation, Risto Siilasmaa, the chairman of Nokia; Stephen Elop, Nokia Chief Operating Officer between 2010 to 2014 and Nokia International OY, a company in Finland.
“The plaintiff avers that the 1st defendants and 4th defendants’ employees admitted and acknowledged, by way of correspondence and letters, the plaintiffs’ contribution to its success in Kenya,” court documents stated.
According to the suit, Technoservice was coerced into investing in the business through a deal that saw them establish Nokia care centres in the country. However, despite co-establishing the centres, Nokia later transferred the centres to Microsoft Corporation without Technoservice’s consent.
Justice Mativo last year issued an order to submit the dispute to arbitration. TechnoService took the case back to the High Court, claiming that the arbitration clauses were unconstitutional.
The suit papers show that the partnership deal was signed between Technoservice and Nokia employees Piotr Labuszewski and Nicholas Maina and orchestrated by a Nokia intern, leading to a contractual relationship.
