A RAGS to riches couple are locked in a £10million court fight with their son-in-law after accusing him of creating a “smash and grab” raid for the family fortune.
Natalie Berg constructed up textiles chain Fabric Land over 5 a long time after beginning out in 1971 as a easy market dealer.
She and husband Jeremy went on to develop a multimillion-pound enterprise alongside their daughter Marnie, who started working on the firm aged 16.
But following Marnie’s demise in 2022 aged simply 49, a struggle erupted between her husband Darren and her dad and mom.
Darren sued the couple for possession of the enterprise, which he values at £10million – claiming he was promised it will be handed to him and Marnie earlier than he agreed to begin working for there in 2007.
He claims his parents-in-law made binding guarantees concerning the future of Fabric Land after enduring years of a fractious working relationship with his father-in-law.
Darren additionally says he labored “long and unsociable hours” on the idea that he could be left in management after they retired on the age of 70.
But Natalie, 73, and Jeremy, 75, declare no such guarantees had been ever made and have branded the lawsuit a “smash and grab” of their property.
Central London County Court heard Fabric Land has on-line and excessive road shops in addition to supplying the theatrical departments of a number of well-known cruise firms, together with Carnival Cruise Liners and Cunard.
Their daughter Marnie joined the family agency on the age of 16 and went on to work with her dad and mom for the subsequent 30 years.
Marnie tragically took her personal life in May 2022 after her psychological and bodily well being declined through the Covid lockdown.
Her husband Darren additionally labored on the family agency between 2007 and 2022 as an govt supervisor after promoting his curiosity in the enterprise he was working in.
But he claims he solely did this as a result of his parents-in-law made binding guarantees about the way forward for Fabric Land on a vacation in Vietnam over 20 years in the past.
Darren instructed the court this included a vow that he and Marnie would ultimately take over the enterprise after Natalie and Jeremy retired.
He says he labored “long and unsociable hours” and he carried on his heavy workload “during annual leave, over holidays and through ill-health…tolerating a verbally abusive working environment from 2018/19”.
Darren additionally claims he was promised possession of two warehouses in Hampshire, which the couple personal however lease to the corporate.
His lawyer James Saunders mentioned: “The family, together with Natalie and Jeremy, holidayed in Vietnam in December 2003, at which period Marnie and Darren had been collectively for eight years and married for 18 months.
“During this vacation, it’s Darren’s case that the family mentioned the way forward for the corporate and that assurances/guarantees had been made to Darren that, if he had been to be a part of the enterprise, he and Marnie could be the house owners and controllers of that enterprise when Natalie and Jeremy finally retired.
“That position was maintained, and further like assurances made, during the subsequent years and Darren ultimately decided to join the company in April 2007.”
Mr Saunders labelled the couple’s “total denial of any promises or assurances” as “extreme” and advised the couple could also be motivated by deep-seated hostility in the direction of their son-in-law as a result of they each “blame Darren for their daughter’s death.”
But the couple’s barrister, Pepin Aslett, claimed no such guarantees had been ever made and branded the lawsuit little greater than a calculated raid on the property they’ve constructed up over years of toil.
He additionally dismissed Darren’s declare that Fabric Land might be price up to £10million as “pie in the sky”.
Mr Aslett additional instructed the court he by no means had a pivotal function in the corporate and identified that “at no time was he a shareholder or a director”.
Darren formally resigned in June 2022 and, on the time of her tragic demise, Marnie was “estranged” from him and instructing divorce legal professionals, it was mentioned.
The trial continues.
