Media House called in to help fight £100m Tate & Lyle legal case

The agency’s crisis team is supporting Whitefox Technologies, which is suing Tate & Lyle in the New York State Supreme Court.

The allegations surround efforts by T&L to produce ethanol at its US factories in Tennessee and Iowa.

T&L launched a legal action in 2009 against Whitefox over the effectiveness of special membranes designed to help reduce the environmental impact of ethanol production. Whitefox has countersued, accusing T&L of negligence in its treatment of the membranes and of failing to protect Whitefox’ s intellectual property rights.

Media House chairman Jack Irvine commented: ‘This is a classic David and Goliath case and goes to the heart of Tate & Lyle’s failed ethanol strategy in the US. With one plant at Fort Dodge mothballed and a £217m write down it is understandable that Tate & Lyle is looking for a scapegoat. Trust me that is not going to be Whitefox.’

The case is expected to be heard in the US later this year.

Whitefox, headed up by former Clifford Chance lawyer Gillian Harrison, is a cleantech engineering company specialising in membrane-based products.