Culture boss faces £30,000 lawsuit from business partner

Feb 4 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

THE woman who was behind Liverpool’s spectacular opening weekend of Capital of Culture is being sued for almost £30,000 by a business partner, the Daily Post can reveal.

Jayne Casey, co-founder of superclub Cream and co-artistic director for the weekend, has been accused of owing the money by David Moss, with whom she set up Love Culture Ltd in 2005.

The company was set up to bid for work from the council-owned Liverpool Culture Company and had come up with a number of ideas for events for 2008.

In the summer of 2007, Casey started work for the Culture Company and it is understood that Mr Moss became frustrated that she was employed directly and not through Love Culture.

Last night, Mr Moss said he just wanted his money back and had not ruled out suing the Culture Company for breach of contract as well.

Casey said that she was in the process of buying out Mr Moss, and expected the situation to be “resolved”. According to papers lodged at court in Liverpool, Mr Moss lent £28,749 between January, 2006, and June, 2007, to Casey “for her personal and business use”.

In the papers, Mr Moss said the loan was due to be paid back in June, 2007, and he is now claiming the money lent plus £1,214 in interest – a total of £29,963.

In letters to Casey, Mr Moss has threatened to issue bankruptcy proceedings against her if judgment is made against her.

In another letter handed to the court, dated December 14, 2007, Mr Moss wrote to Casey stating she had agreed to repay the £28,749.

Mr Moss said: “I don’t want there to be any bad consequences on Capital of Culture and the good work that is being done, but at the end of the day money is money and I need my money back.”

She said: “It is a limited company that he’s a director of and he wants me to buy him out, and he’s made this really nutty move.

“I am willing to buy him out, but I want the accountant to check things.”

She said that Mr Moss had already started working on a project in Italy when she had started work for the Culture Company.

“One of the reasons I have took it (the job at the Culture Company) was so I could buy David out.”

Casey made her name in the 1980s as lead singer of pop group Big in Japan, before going on to set up Zulu records and in the 90s Cream.

Love Culture Ltd was set up in October 2005. It is understood Mr Moss and Casey set up the company to bid for work from the Liverpool Culture Company, which is charged with delivering Capital of Culture.

The venture sought to use Mr Moss’s skills as an accountant and Casey’s contacts in the entertainment and cultural sectors. The company was supposed to use a percentage of its profits to offer grants to small cultural organisations, and therefore help drive Liverpool’s cultural economy.

In May, 2006, Love Culture helped with the re-launch of one of Liverpool’s most famous music venues – the Picket. The £1.5m venue in Jamaica Street was supposed to be base for a new cultural zone in the city.

The area, named the Independent District, was being developed into an event and festival site in the run-up to 2008 by Love Culture, working with the Picket and with support from city officials.

Love Culture has been praised by Liverpool City Council for its contribution in the creation of the Independent District.

In October, 2006, the council passed a motion saying the “development will create a positive and lasting legacy for 2008 and recognise the vital role that the independent cultural sector has played in the successful regeneration of the city centre”.

davidbartlett