High Court stops Paramount Holdings-Yamaha sole distributor deal, orders Yamaha to continue working with Stansfield
High Court Commercial Division in Blantyre has restrained Yamaha Motor Company from putting into effect the sole distributor deal it agreed with Paramount Holdings Limited.
Making the ruling on Tuesday, Judge Ken Manda further ordered Yamaha Motor, through its South African distributor Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited, to continue supplying its merchandise to Malawi through Stansfield Motors Limited until the court’s determination on the matter.
The court’s ruling follows an application Stansfield filed seeking clarification on an interim injunction order it obtained from the court against the termination of its agreement with the Japanese mobility manufacturer after Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited stopped taking its orders.
The court granted the order of interim injunction to Stansfield and three other interested parties including Luthando Holdings Limited, Actor Import and Export Investment Limited and Stansfield Motors Services Limited on January 11 2024.
Stansfield had been procuring its merchandise under the sole dealership agreement it entered with Yamaha through Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited but after the injunction order the South African company stopped attending to Stansfield orders on the pretext that it was not covered by the injunction order and that the sole distributorship the between Malawian company and Yamaha had been terminated.
It is this development that forced Stansfield to seek an order from the court clarifying the scope of the interim injunction order so that all concerned parties understand its meaning and full nature.
Judge Manda’s order, hence, supplements the initial interim order informing Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited to sustain its business relationship with Malawi Stansfield Motors, at the same time, putting stopping the sole distributor agreement between Yamaha and Paramount Holdings.
“An order is hereby made, clarifying the order of the interim injunction granted herein as follows: that when the said order stated that the 1st Defendant is restrained, whether by itself or by its servants or agents, or otherwise howsoever, this includes agents like Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited and whoever other intermediaries there may be through whom the Claimant acquires the 1st Defendant’s products for distribution in Malawi”, reads part of the 6th February order.
The Court also clarified that when the said order stated that the Yamaha Motor Company Limited is restrained from putting into effect the purported termination of its sole distributorship agreement with Stansfield Motors, it means that the said Yamaha’s sole distributorship agreement with Stansfield is still subsisting.
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