Well known Dubai restaurateur Paolo Roberto Rella was at the peak of his career in 2013. A wealthy Emirati businessman had invested $2 million to launch Roberto’s Club in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), named after him in acknowledgement of his reputation in the industry.
As managing partner he was the front man of what became a thriving restaurant/bar in a competitive dining environment and it was widely recognised that he, and his contacts, were crucial to the success of the business.
But only nine months after opening, his partnership with Emain Kadrie, who had put up the entire capital for the restaurant, had soured and within 13 months Rella had been sacked.
The fallout ended up in DIFC Courts and a legal battle that has surpassed AED100,000 ($27,225) is still being fought.
The Italian, known as ‘Roberto’, had drunk too much during operating hours and hosted too many after-work drinking sessions on the premises, despite warnings, Kadrie said in Rella’s employment termination letter dated April 3, 2013, according to court documents.
Rella was initially suspended from work and from any involvement with the restaurant in January, 2013, before being fully terminated.
He had missed “numerous days of work due to [his] excessive use of alcohol” which had “put severe pressure on the business and the restaurant team to successfully perform their duties”, the termination letter says.
Rella not only lost his job, but because the termination was for “serious cause”, Kadrie contended that he also legally forfeited his right to shares worth 17 percent of the company that owned Roberto’s Club.
Kadrie also demanded he pay back his work credit card, an unpaid restaurant bill from months before his sacking, more than $27,000 in medical bills paid for by the company and his unexpired housing rent.
Taking away salary and holiday entitlements Kadrie agreed to, he said Rella owed him and his company AED197,336 – on top of forfeiting the shares.
In little more than a year, Rella had gone from big shot restaurateur with a flourishing business to a recovering alcoholic with tens of thousands of dollars owed, court documents claimed.
Dr Hany Shafey, a psychiatrist who treated Rella following his suspension from Roberto’s, told the court the former manager had admitted to using alcohol to relieve chronic anxiety.
“He reported drinking an excess of 2.5 bottles of vodka a week plus 3 bottles of wine a week plus the occasional beer here and there,” Dr Shafey wrote in a consultation note dated February 18, 2013, and presented to the court.
But Rella contested that he had been wrongfully dismissed, claiming that by April 2013, Kadrie had decided to “get rid” of him, possibly taking advantage of his contacts and clients, and to reclaim the shares that had been appointed to Rella.
Kadrie, Rella and two other smaller partners had agreed in 2011 to set-up the restaurant, with Kadrie to fully fund the capital and initial operating costs and Rella to contribute his expertise and reputation.
The four men entered an agreement whereby Kadrie would own 70 percent of the company’s shares and Rella would own 30 percent, with 13 percent of that to be held in trust for the other two members, who were both part of the management team. Any of the men would forfeit their shares if they resigned or were sacked within five years.
Rella told the court during a proceeding in May, 2014, that he had sought help for his alcohol abuse and reduced his consumption to 5-6 glasses of wine a week. He also had told this to Kadie during meetings to discuss him returning to the business before his termination and had insisted that he was fit to return to work.
In a counterclaim, Rella sought “notice pay” and various other entitlements, a declaration that he was the legal owner of 30 percent of the share capital in the company, an order for Kadrie and his company to buy out Rella, an order requiring the transfer to him of the ownership of the Roberto’s trademark, and other damages.
But in his ruling, deputy chief justice Sir John Chadwick said it was “impossible to contend” that Rella had been wrongfully dismissed.
“He failed to adhere to, and violated continually, company expectations and policies in relation to the consumption of alcohol at the restaurant which he had, himself, been party to establishing,” Sir John’s written judgment says.
“That failure to adhere to – and that violation of – those company expectations and policies in those circumstances seem to me to demonstrate, in ample measure, that he could no longer be relied up on to make the contribution on the basis of which he was admitted to participation in the joint venture.”
In a judgment issued on October 29, 2014, Sir John accepted all of Kadrie’s claim, except that Rella repay his medical bills, which related to surgery in July, 2012, and had been partially covered by the company’s health insurance.
Sir John dismissed each point in Rella’s counterclaim, except some entitlements that already had been agreed to with Kadrie.
Rella has applied for permission to appeal the judgment and a hearing is scheduled for February 17.
A representative from Rella's legal team declined to comment when contacted by Arabian Business.
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