THE SINGAPORE Tourism Board (STB) has emerged victorious in a five-year legal wrangle with British event organiser Anthony Hollingsworth over the latter’s failure to stage the two-day Listen Live concert in 2005.
Singapore’s Court of Appeal dismissed in February an appeal by Hollingsworth against an earlier High Court order for him to return a sum of over S$6 million (US$4.7 million) to STB.
Hollingsworth, together with his companies Children’s Media and Tribute Third Millenium, were joint organisers of the concert, originally scheduled for September 30 and October 1, 2005.
STB was the main sponsor for Listen Live and paid funds towards its staging, but the event failed to materialise even after successive postponements. STB commenced legal proceedings to recover its investment in March 2006.
In May 2008, the High Court of Singapore decided that Hollingsworth, Children’s Media and Tribute Third Millenium were liable for all of STB’s damages arising from the dispute.
The defendants subsequently submitted a series of appeals, before Hollingsworth appealed before the Court of Appeal in February.
With the dismissal of this final appeal, the original High Court order is now final, binding and conclusive on the defendants.
