Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council breached the terms of an agreement for the use of his company’s technology and excluded him from its project. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to take the matter to court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council changed the terms of a commercial agreement with his company without consulting him and has used its technology without his agreement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and took account of his comments.

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What I found

5. Mr X says the Council chose his company to partner with on a commercial venture in 2017. There was initial agreement on the amount to charge for their product until the Council held a meeting with another involved party and decided to change the fee without his agreement.
6. Mr X says his company developed the product, shared its intellectual property and spent money on the basis of the original higher figure and when he declined to accept an offer to sell his software to the Council or to agree to the lower fee, the Council excluded him from the project.
7. Mr X says that by refusing to honour the terms of its agreement wit his company, the Council has acted unlawfully.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. It is not for us to decide whether Mr X has or had a legally enforceable contract with the Council or whether the Council has breached the terms of any agreement with his company. We also cannot determine the amount of Mr X’s claimed losses; these are matters for the courts. While I appreciate there are costs involved in taking court action the issues in question here are ones we cannot determine and it would therefore be reasonable for Mr X to take the matter to court.

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Final decision

9. Subject to any comments Mr X might make, my view is that the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to take the matter to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman