Justice James Makau of the High Court on Tuesday ordered Heineken East Africa Import Company Limited to pay Maxam Limited over Sh.1.7 billion in a distribution misunderstanding.
The court found Heineken guilty of breaching their agreement with Maxam Limited.
“I find the plaintiff has demonstrated that the defendants acted in breach of the contract,” said the Justice Makau.
He ordered the Dutch brewer to pay Sh.1,799,978,868 to Maxam Limited as damages due to a breach of their contract.
The judge noted that Maxam Limited lost their business after Heineken terminated the contract the two companies had.
Justice James Makau also came out to accuse Heineken of discriminating Maxam Limited from other distributors.
According to the judge, Heineken was offering lower market prices to other distributors but was giving Maxam higher prices for the same products.
“A declaration is and is hereby issued that the Kenyan Distributors Agreement dated May 21, 2013 between the plaintiff and the first defendant is in full force and effect as per the terms and conditions set out therein,” he said.
The judge thus noted that Heineken's decision to terminate their contract with Maxam Limited had no basis.
“The agreement has always been renewed and the same is still in force every year since May 27, 2016 and the same is still in full force and effective,” noted the court.