Fashion business owner’s £6m charity lawsuit mostly struck out
Amanda Navaian, founder of the luxury handbag company Marici London, claimed that she suffered psychological injury and lost more than £1m in sales after the King Charles III Charitable Fund pulled out of a launch dinner and promotional T-shirt line for the charity’s food waste project in June 2024.
Navaian’s claim was against the King’s charity, the food distribution charity FareShare and Dori Dana-Haeiri, chair of the Coronation Food Project, a KCCF initiative designed to bridge the gap between food waste and food insecurity.
But judge Mr Justice Mansfield ruled in favour of the defendants on almost all counts, stating that there was “no realistic prospect of success” on Navaian’s claims.
The claimant sought damages exceeding £6m on three primary grounds which the judge found to be “fundamentally flawed”.
Navaian alleges breach of contract regarding an April 2024 meeting in which she claims an oral agreement was formed, committing the defendants to endorse the projects, secure high-net-worth donors and provide PR support.
The judge determined there was “no realistic prospect” of establishing that the parties intended to create legal relations on 29 April and said the terms of the alleged agreement were “too uncertain to give rise to binding contractual obligations”.
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Regulator pledges to work ‘at pace’ to update guidance in wake of new EHRC code
The Charity Commission’s promise comes after the Equality and Human Rights Commission published its long-awaited draft code of practice for services, public functions and associations.
The document sets out how public bodies, business and other service providers should respond to last year’s Supreme Court ruling that sex in the Equality Act refers only to biological sex.
The Charity Commission has been awaiting the guidance and in January David Holdsworth, chief executive of the regulator, urged ministers to speed up the publication of the EHRC guidance to give clarity for charities in this area.
His intervention came after Girlguiding UK and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes both said they would exclude trans women from their services following the Supreme Court ruling.
After the publication of the EHRC guidance, a Charity Commission spokesperson told Third Sector that charities would be able to assess its implications for their work during the parliamentary approval process and take any legal advice that might be needed.
“Meanwhile, now the commission has seen the code, we will continue to work to update our guidance specifically for trustees of charities that provide services or are associations,” the spokesperson said.
“We will work at pace to do this but must also carefully review our guidance against the final code once that is published by parliament.
“As charities can have any combination of charitable purposes or stated beneficiaries, detailed guidance on the intersection of charity law with equalities legislation will help trustees make lawful decisions in the best interests of their charity.”
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Man charged after charity chief died in cycling accident
Tim Joss, founder and chief executive of Aesop Arts & Society, died aged 68 in an accident near his home in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire in 2024.
Kieren Kilminster, 22, of Winchester, has been charged by Thames Valley Police with causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.
Joss launched Aesop in 2014 and remained as chief executive until his death.
Aesop offers evidenced-based arts solutions to societal problems, including its fall-prevention programme for older people, Dance to Health.
The charity’s latest accounts, for the year to the end of March 2025, state Aesop used the 2024/25 financial year as a “period of succession, stabilisation and recovery” while planning the charity’s future in absence of Joss’ vision.
“After careful consideration, the trustees have taken the difficult decision to wind up the charity in the first half of 2026,” the accounts say.
“The final administrative and legal winding-up should be completed between April and June 2026.
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