Johnson & Johnson in dispute over distributorship in Sri Lanka
View(s):GSG Distributors (Pvt) Ltd (GSG), a local distributor for the multinational Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in Sri Lanka, has filed action in the Commercial High Court claiming damages in a sum of Rs. 250 million for breach of agreement and opportunity lost due to arbitrary actions of the multinational company, a plaint filed by GSG revealed. GSG was the distributor responsible for the logistics in the distribution of J&J products among the supermarket chains islandwide. The petition says that total sales, marketing and trade marketing operations were handled by the management of J&J (Sri Lankan office) while the primary function of the distributor (GSG) was to provide infrastructure, logistics and the collection of debts from the supermarket channel.
GSG management says it has being communicating with the J&J team continuously from 2014 informing them that the operation was not profitable, however there were no proper actions were taken to rectify the situation. An application for an interim injunction to prevent J&J from making claims for the years 2015 and 2016 under an agreement that lapsed in 2014 was ‘stultified’ when J&J, despite notice from court, filed a counter-claim before an Indian arbitrator, the plaintiff alleged. GSG was represented by Anil Tittawella PC with Milinda Jayatilleke Attorney at Law instructed by Nithi Murugesu & Associates. J&J was represented by Thilini De Alwis Attorney at law instructed by Julius & Creasy. The Commercial High Court directed J&J to file its answer to the plaint by August 20.