Bluefin loses appeal over return of £240k 'goodwill' payment

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The High Court has dismissed an appeal by Thinc Group - now Bluefin - against a ruling which said it could not claim back goodwill payments worth more than £243,000 from two self-employed advisers whose contracts with the business were terminated.

Husband-and-wife team Helen and Ashley Armstrong had joined Thinc Group in April 2008. To compensate them for bringing to Thinc their 10,000-strong client base, the Armstrongs were offered a 'disturbance allowance' of just over £243,000. However, the couple's contracts with the company were terminated a little over a year later, in June 2009, on the basis that their business levels were falling "considerably lower" than expected. Though the contracts had set out the ability of Thinc to terminate the arrangement, even "without cause", the national group lost a court case to reclaim ...

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