Wey Education PLC Successful in High Court Claim against former CEO (5738D)
07 July 2016 - 9:32PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMWEY
RNS Number : 5738D
Wey Education PLC
07 July 2016
7 July 2016
WEY EDUCATION PLC
("Wey" or "the Company" or "the Group")
Company successful in High Court Claim against former CEO Dr
Zenna Atkins,
also known as Zenna Hopson
Wey Education Plc ("Wey") together with Wey's wholly owned
subsidiary, previously called Zail Enterprises Limited, ("Zail"),
together the "Company" is pleased to announce that it has prevailed
in the High Court action against Wey's former CEO, Zenna Atkins,
("Atkins" or "Hopson"), alleging various breaches of her duties to
the Company.
The Court found that Atkins / Hopson had:-
a. Breached certain of her fiduciary duties to the Company on various matters;
b. Breached her duty of loyalty to the Company;
c. Acted to further her own interests at the Company's expense;
d. Improperly disclosed financial and confidential information
about the Company to third parties;
e. Embellished facts to advance her own position;
f. Improperly encouraged various consultants to cease working with the Company;
g. Deleted her inbox "to avoid disclosure of her own misconduct";
h. Not as she maintained acted out of a sense of public spirit or duty; and
i. Improperly accepted a directorship of a Company client without disclosure or approval.
Significantly, the Judge found that in relation to an allegation
of fraud Atkins / Hopson made to the Department for Education
("DfE") against the Company and its officers, she had no proper
basis for any such allegation and she was acting to pursue her own
agenda.
As a consequence, the Company has been awarded damages of
GBP38,046. The Company will be applying for an order that Atkins /
Hopson pay its costs at a subsequent hearing.
The board of the Company regrets that these proceedings were
necessary, but faced with the conduct of Atkins / Hopson, in
particular in relation to the wrongful and harmful allegation of
fraud made to the DfE, felt that in the interests of all
shareholders, they had to act.
The Company intends to apply to have the currently stayed
Employment Tribunal action dismissed and for an order that Atkins /
Hopson pays the costs of those proceedings as well. The Company
hopes that this matter will now be swiftly concluded.
Background
Atkins / Hopson is the former Chairman of Ofsted and served for
a number of years as an external member of the Navy Board and
Chairman of its Audit Committee. She was also a non-executive
director of the Treasury.
In 2011, Wey acquired Zail from Atkins / Hopson and she was
appointed CEO of Wey. On 6(th) December 2012, Atkins / Hopson was
suspended on full pay by Wey, pending investigation into various
matters which were causing the board of Wey concern.
Atkins / Hopson was invited to attend a disciplinary hearing on
24(th) January 2013. In response, Atkins / Hopson resigned with
immediate effect and did not attend the disciplinary hearing.
Subsequently, Atkins / Hopson issued proceedings in the
Employment Tribunal alleging, inter alia, Constructive Unfair
Dismissal for detriments resulting from her 'whistleblowing'. In
response, Wey issued proceedings in the High Court alleging breach
of fiduciary duty by Atkins / Hopson and successfully applied for a
stay of the Employment Tribunal proceedings. In the High Court the
Judge has found that her allegations could not be justified as
whistleblowing.
One element of the case was the deletion by Atkins / Hopson,
before she resigned, of all the emails she had received and sent
out on behalf of Wey / Zail and thereby denying the Company details
of much of their business records. The case was due to come to
trial in April 2015 but shortly before trial Atkins finally
revealed that she had taken and maintained on her home computer
over 16,000 items of correspondence. The trial was postponed and
finally heard in April 2016. Judgment has been given today by HHJ
David Cooke (the "Judge").
The Company note that Atkins / Hopson disposed of her entire
shareholding in Wey during the course of the proceedings.
Enquiries:
Wey Education plc +44 (0) 20 7518
David Massie (Chairman) 9700
WH Ireland Limited
(Nominated Adviser and Broker) +44 (0) 117 945
Ed Allsopp (Corporate Finance) 3470
Yellow Jersey PR Limited
Alistair de Kare-Silver +44 (0) 7825 916715
Dominic Barretto +44 (0) 7768 537739
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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