City football star Bony set for open court showdown
The commercial litigation team at law firm JMW Solicitors has advised the former Manchester City footballer Wilfried Bony on his battle with his former agents.
Bony’s multi-million pound damages claim against two former agents will be heard in open court, the High Court has ruled.
Head of commercial litigation at JMW Marc Yaffe is working alongside solicitor Claire Brown and barrister David Casement QC in suing Gilbert Francis Kacou and Dalibor Lacina in the High Court over payments of up to £8.3m which were allegedly made to them secretly without Bony’s knowledge or permission in connection with his moves to Swansea City in 2013 and from Swansea to Manchester City in 2015.
Kacou and Lacina and their companies, wanted the claims to go to arbitration in a bid to keep the case out of the public domain.
A judge ruled earlier this year that the matters should all be heard in open court but they sought to overturn the judgement at the High Court in Manchester but their appeal was dismissed.
Kacou and Lacina have been ordered to pay more than £85,000 in legal fees to Bony.
Yaffe said: “Our client, Wilfried Bony, wants open justice. Most agents do a fantastic job for players, but there are plenty of instances where they and players fall out or there are concerns that an agent has not acted in the player’s best interests.”
