TAILOR LOSES £1M WINE LAWSUIT AFTER JUDGE RULES HE CAUSED DAMAGE

A judge at Central London County Court has dismissed a £550,000 lawsuit brought by suitmaker Tom Reimer against International Food Services Equipment Ltd, the company that installed a refrigerated wine wall in his London flat. Judge Sarah Ellington ruled that Reimer caused the condensation damage to his own collection himself, either by boxing in part of the fridge unit or by repeatedly switching the wine coolers off after neighbours complained about noise and vibrations. Reimer was ordered to pay £110,000 in court costs. The judge found that Reimer had turned the units off "significantly more than twice" and acted "unreasonably" by doing so without notifying his suppliers.

Reimer, whose past tailoring customers include opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, had claimed that leaky fridges caused condensation which damaged labels and potentially destroyed corks in his collection of approximately 20,000 bottles of fine French wine. His claim sought £500,000 for the reduction in value of the collection, plus additional costs. The defendant company's legal team argued that the fridges themselves functioned properly and that any problem arose solely from the noise and vibrations affecting Reimer's neighbour. Reimer's barrister submitted that he turned off the units because he was under "considerable pressure" from his landlord and neighbours over noise generated by the £23,000 wine coolers and their condenser units.

In her ruling, Judge Ellington noted that Reimer could have moved his wine into storage while replacement units were being installed, or could have given notice to International Food Services that he intended to turn off the equipment. The judge's decision establishes that the responsibility for the collection's deterioration lay with Reimer's own actions rather than with any defect in the refrigeration equipment supplied.