Gerry Quirke Wins £300,000 in public access High Court Group Action

Monday 30th January 2012

Gerry Quirke has won £300,000 in damages and costs on behalf of 15 claimants in the Chancery Division of the High Court in Birmingham after a 12-day hearing.

The action, for fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit, was brought on behalf of a group of investors against two businessmen from Warwick who, it was held, had induced them to enter into an investment scheme in the telecommunications industry by misrepresenting both themselves and their company’s services.

The company, Orbit Talk Limited, purported to offer a voice-over-internet-protocol service, to be run by themselves as experienced and reputable businessmen. In fact they were just middle-men, promoting the scheme on behalf of a man called Julius Lewis who is now serving a prison sentence. In addition, one of the partners in Orbit Talk, Vijaya Bhaskar Bandi was discovered to be a disqualified director with a history of dubious business dealings. One of his previous companies, Modern Media Holdings was wound up in the public interest by the Public Interest Unit of the Insolvency Service.

The claimants had each handed over at least £23,000 to participate in a ‘profit-share scheme’ which collapsed shortly after its inception. The defendants blamed the elusive Mr Lewis for the debacle but the judge, His Honour Judge Purle QC, sitting as a High Court Judge, found that the two partners, Mr Bandi and Mr Pashori Lal had themselves materially deceived the investors about Mr Bandi’s history and the scheme in which they were involved. 

Gerry Quirke represented the claimants under the Public Access scheme.