Court rules against chef Gordon Ramsay’s ‘ghost writing’ defence

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has lost his High Court battle over liability for the rent of a London pub. The pub deal was made when his father-in-law Christopher Hutcheson was at the helm of his business. Chef Ramsay accused Mr Hutcheson of using a ghost writer machine – used to sign books and photographs automatically – to forge his signature on a document that made him the personal guarantor for the £640,000 (US$970,000) annual rent of the York & Albany pub near Regent’s Park. The judge ruled against the motion that Mr Ramsay’s signature “was not lawfully authorised” when the 25-year lease was signed in 2007.

I find that when Mr Hutcheson committed Mr Ramsay to the guarantee in the lease of the premises, Mr Hutcheson was acting within the wide general authority conferred on him by Mr Ramsay at all times until Mr Hutcheson’s dismissal in October 2010.

Justice Morgan, sitting in the London High Court

Film director Gary Love, who owns the York & Albany, described Ramsay’s allegation as an “absurd” attempt to wriggle out of his rental commitments. The judge ordered Ramsay to make an interim payment to Mr Love of £250,000 ($378k) pending final settlement of the bill. Ramsay also faces a large bill from his own lawyers which is likely to take his total payout to more than £1m. His wife, Tana, said in evidence that the discovery that her father and brother were “systematically defrauding” her husband was “extremely distressing”.

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