A MILLIONAIRE tailor has lost a court battle that saw him blame a luxury wine fridge for ruining his £1million collection.
Tom Reimer, who once dressed opera great Luciano Pavarotti, sued the firm behind the bespoke £23,000 “ wall” in his £8million apartment after claiming the faulty fridge destroyed his rare vintages.
Tom Reimer was left with a court bill of £110,000 Credit: Champion News Service
The multi-millionaire tailor once dressed opera great Luciano Pavarotti Credit: Getty Images
Wine lover Mr Reimer claimed that the bespoke chiller had left the labels of his precious bottles covered in mould, with some “probably” becoming corked.
He insisted that a 1cm gap between the fridge doors, that were installed by Croydon-based International Food Services, had let in air and caused condensation.
Now, a judge has ruled the damage was caused by Mr Reimer himself, after he reportedly switched off the chillers following a neighbours‘ complaint it was too noisy and causing “vibrations” through the walls.
The multi-millionaire has now been left with a court bill of £110,000 following his £500,000 claim being thrown out.
The Central London County Court heard how Mr Reimer kept around 20,000 bottles of fine French wine across his in London and Hamburg, .
His collection of around 1,500 bottles included some of the world’s most sought-after vintages, including a 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild worth more than £1,000 and a 2012 Chateau Petrus Pomerol, which can fetch up to £2,000.
Mr Reimer had the wine fridge installed in his London flat Credit: Supplied by Champion News
The Judge ruled that available photographic evidence also didn’t support Mr Reimer’s case Credit: Champion News Service
Experts told the court that damaged labels can dramatically reduce the value of rare wines because collectors may fear the contents may also have been spoiled inside.
Despite Mr Reimer putting the blame on the food service company, lawyers for the business insisted there was “nothing wrong” with the fridges they installed.
They added: “They worked perfectly well and as intended. The only ‘problem’ with them is they caused Mr Reimer’s neighbour to complain.
“The real cause of the damaged wine bottle labels is that the condensers were turned off by Mr Reimer, his agents or some other third party.
“That they were turned off on at least two observed occasions is an admitted fact… the motivation for turning them off is apparent.”
The company’s barrister, Matthew Winn-Smith, argued that any damage to the wine likely resulted from Mr Reimer “turning off the wine fridges because they were too noisy for his residential setting”.
He went on to claim that Mr Reimer had been put under “considerable pressure” from his landlord and neighbours over the noise from the £23,000 cooler and their condenser.
The court heard how the building’s freeholder also contacted Mr Reimer after receiving formal complaints about the “unwanted” sound.
The tailor accepted that the fridges had been switched off twice, but Judge Sarah Ellington judge later ruled it had been done “significantly more” times without notifying the suppliers.
She continued: “I find that it was unreasonable to just turn them off.
“He could have moved the wine into storage while (the units) were being replaced, he could have given notice to International Food Services that he felt he would need to turn the units off.”
The Judge also ruled that available photographic evidence also didn’t support Mr Reimer’s case, and noted a lack of evidence about fluctuations in fridge temperatures.
She ruled that even with a 1cm gap present, the fridges should have carried on functioning effectively.
Judge Ellington concluded: “Even if I am wrong that there was a gap of 1cm, that would be wholly irrelevant to the operation of the system.”
Mr Reimer, the descendant of a wealthy German family, carved out his lucrative tailoring career in Hamburg.
In the 1990s, his company kitted out opera star Pavarotti with a white silk tailcoat.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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