Digest loses contract battle

Direct retailer Premier Books UK has won a long-running court dispute with Reader's Digest Children's Publishing over a sales contract between the two companies.

Reader's Digest will not recover the £144,000 it claimed was outstanding unless it successfully appeals against the judgment.

The court action was brought by Reader's Digest following a sale of about 40,000 slipcase sets of four children's books to Premier in September 1998. Premier had paid £48,000 based on a price of £1.20 per unit quoted in a contract.

Reader's Digest argued that this price referred to each individual book rather than set, and that the correct price for the books was £192,000. Premier maintained that it had paid the proper price.

Bernard Livesey QC found in favour of Premier Books and upheld the price it had originally paid. The ruling followed submissions from both sides and claims from Reader's Digest that Premier's interpretation of the contract was commercially unreasonable.