US aviation tycoon falls out with Kenya partner

A US tycoon has left the courtroom with a Sh6 million bill after a protracted five- year row with a Kenyan businessman who had leased his charter planes.

James Stanley Denooyer has been embroiled in a bitter row with James David Roberts, the owner of charter flight company Tropic Air Limited. Mr Denooyer, the operator of aviation firm Lady Lori Limited, moved to court in 2009 claiming compensation of Sh22.2 million which he alleged to be the cost he incurred in repairing planes that he had leased to Tropic Air, but that were allegedly damaged as a result of mishandling.
Mr Denooyer had also sought a further payment of Sh14 million claiming it was unpaid amount resulting from operation, charter, training, and use of the aircraft. The US businessman, however, ended the loser in the case whose judgment was passed on Tuesday last week, as Justice Jonathan Havelock rejected his claim, noting that no evidence was produced.

The two rich men who are in the lucrative charter flight business in Kenya put up a strong fight over a claim that arguably is a little more than what they have spent on their lawyers as legal fee in the past five years, reflecting the underlying bitter fallout.
Mr Denooyer, who owned several helicopters, had leased to Mr Roberts several planes that the Kenyan-born businessman operated under his company licence, Tropic Air. During all this time, Mr Denooyer had no licence to operate commercial flights in Kenya. The relationship between the businessmen seemed rosy throughout as evidenced by Mr Denooyer’s statement that as late as 2006 he loaned Mr Roberts $1,094,391 (Sh96.3 million).
Problems between the two seem to have started sometime in 2008 but the details of what led to this fallout is not clear. But Mr Roberts, in his testimony to court, claimed that the case was brought to destabilise his company, arguing that Mr Denooyer poached his employees to start his company Lady Lori.
Mr Denooyer denied this claim, despite evidence that two of his witnesses in court were former employees of Mr Roberts. Justice Havelock agreed with this claim, noting evidence given by two of Mr Denooyer’s witnesses.
“Although in his evidence, PW3 (Mr Denooyer) vehemently denied poaching the defendant staff, including PW 1 and PW 2 (Mr Denooyer two witnesses), I have little doubt that he did so an in so doing, paved the way to setting up the plaintiff helicopter charter business based in Nairobi,” said the Judge.
Mr Denooyer in court documents argued that one of his planes that was returned to him in October 2009 after the termination of the contract between him and Tropic Air had a damaged engine. He said the Eurocopter AS350 B3 was damaged after a pilot working for Tropic Air removed its rotor blades, repainted it and returned to it without proper balancing.