Giambrone & Partners successfully defended a Commercial client in a €1 million damages case

Giambrone & Partners’ cross-border litigation lawyers, led by Gonzalo Butori, a partner in the London office and Angel Moncada a partner in the Madrid office, have successfully defended a complex multi-jurisdictional matter. 

The main contractor successfully won a €1 million contract to supply items to the governing council of a capital city in Europe. The main contractor instructed a supplier who, in turn, instructed a manufacturer in the supply of the items required.

Giambrone & Partners’ client, the manufacturer, duly provided the items in question only for a number of them to be rejected and returned as faulty. This happened on an alarmingly regular basis until eventually the main contractor withdrew the opportunity from both the supplier and the manufacturer and sued the supplier for breach of contract and the manufacturer for defective products including damages due to the cost the main contractor alleged had been incurred in manpower to effect the replacement of the defective items.

Giambrone & Partners’ litigation lawyers, successfully demonstrated to the judge that our client did not provide defective products as the main contractor had failed to provide our client with a technical brief of any description outlining the specification and the express requirements needed for the items ordered.

It transpired that our client supplied sound functioning items that simply would not operate due to the failure of the main contractor to explain design, capacity and application of the items ordered.

The judge agreed that there was no liability for the failure on the part of our client, or the supplier.

Gonzalo Butori, commented “the judge recognised that it was impossible for our client to adequately fulfil their contractual obligations without having received any information to as to the particular requirements of the items needed to by the governing council” Gonzalo further remarked, “had the main contractor investigated the reasons for the product failures initially the repeated perceived malfunction of the items due to defects would have been avoided at an early stage".

In any commercial transaction involving the supply of goods or services, it is absolutely vital for both sides to provide a comprehensive brief as to what is required and what is to be provided by the supplier. This information should be established before the initial transaction. Clarity on all aspects of the contract removes the potential for disputes at a later stage.

Gonzalo has acted in a wide range of international and domestic commercial disputes. He has experience dealing with complex, high-value cross-border litigation.

In addition to being admitted to practise in England & Wales as a Registered Foreign Lawyer (RFL), Gonzalo is admitted in to practice as an Abogado, a Spanish-qualified lawyer in Spain, as well as Avvocato Stabilito in Italy and divides his time between the London, Barcelona and Naples offices.

He has particular proficiency with regard to dispute resolution and represents claimants and defendants in all jurisdictions on civil and commercial matters and regularly appears at mediation and arbitration hearings. He has acted as co-advocate in international commercial disputes under ICC rules as well as in other Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) proceedings.

Gonzalo is recognised for his pragmatic approach and solution-based strategies as well as his robust capacity when pursuing his clients’ best interests. When heavy disclosure in foreign languages is required, he develops and delivers technical solutions to ease the cost burden for clients.

He has assisted in a number of cross-border transactions involving various EU jurisdictions and achieved successful results. He also specialises in the conflict of laws and jurisdiction.