11/03/2021 – 12:40 Updated: 03/11/2021 – 12:41
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The United States justice has ruled in favor of Pontegadea, the reversing arm of Amancio Ortega, in the conflict that confronts him GAP for the collection of the rent of two stores that it has rented to the Galician group in one of the main commercial edges of the island of Manhattan.
A year ago, the American fashion company took advantage of the outbreak of the pandemic and the consequent imposition of closures to claim that, under his contract, this casualty exempted him of having to continue paying the rents of two establishments located at the confluence of 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan, leased to Banana Republic y GAP.
But the judge Laura Taylor Swain On Monday rejected the claims of the fashion group, according to the US specialized press, ruling in favor of the owner of the Pontegadea New York property, a subsidiary of the Spanish group in the city of skyscrapers.
For the magistrate, GAP cannot use the pandemic to defaulted on rent, because the company has been able to continue to address the raison d’être of these stores, which is the sale of clothing. Among the arguments put forward by the judge is so much that these establishments they were able to continue operating both online and with the delivery of garments abroad, thus using the premises of a kind of warehouse, in addition to the fact that it opened to the public other stores that GAP has in Manhattan.
GAP has tried to use a draft of the contract to justify the non-payment of rents
Judge Swain maintains that the victim vision which GAP tries to use to activate the clause of the contract that would guarantee its right to stop paying rent refers to incidents such as fires, which have an impact on the store that the owner should face, but does not include the pandemic, since there is nothing Pontegadea can do to correct the situation.
Despite the importance of this pronouncement, the case still has a long history in US courts, since Pontegadea now has the right to claim damages and the payment of the rent since March of last year. But the fact that the balance has tipped, at least for the moment, in its favor is also relevant in the face of other conflicts it has with GAP in other states of the United States and in neighboring Canada.
Other clashes with GAP
As published by El Confidencial, the two companies are also at odds over the rental of Old Navy, another brand owned by the US, in its flagship store or ‘flagship’ of San Francisco. In this case, the figure claimed by Ortega’s investment arm amounts to 1.5 million euros.
In Canada, on the other hand, Superior Court of Québec has given a first setback to Pontegadea, the investment arm of Amancio Ortega, in the judicial war between the Spanish company and the fashion multinational GAP for the non-payment of the rent of several stores. One of them is the one corresponding to the establishment that has Banana Republic, brand of the American group, at number 777 Sainte-Catherine street, Montreal.
Due to the impact that the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic had on its activity, the fashion firm did not pay the rent for the months of April and May, it only faced a small part (12%) of those corresponding to June and July. , and it was not until August 1 when he returned to pay the entire corresponding rent.
In this case, the magistrate has interpreted that the defense of GAP, invoking the exception for partial non-compliance, it is enough in this first stage to avoid that a court order the immediate payment of the arrears and, in addition, the return of the payment of the rents on the part of the fashion group as of August supposes a reestablishment of the balance between the parties.
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