A sales manager is set to receive over £1 million after he was punched in the face by his boss and hit his head on a marble floor, leaving him seriously brain damaged.
Clive Bellman went straight back like a falling tree when he was hit by his lifelong friend and recruitment tycoon, John Major, after an office Christmas party.
Mr Bellman, 62, sued the company for which they both worked, Northampton Recruitment Ltd, of which Mr Major is Managing Director.
His claim was rejected in 2016 by a judge who ruled the company could not be held legally to blame for Mr Majors actions.
But now three Court of Appeal judges have reversed that decision and handed Mr Bellman the right to a massive payout after the incident at Northamptons Hilton Hotel.
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Lady Justice Asplin said Mr Major had been wearing his hat as the companys MD when he slammed his fist twice into Mr Bellmans face.
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Sales manager Mr Bellman, from Windsor, was attacked after the hard-drinking festivities ended in chaos in December 2011.
He was punched in the face and got back up but was punched again, smashing his head on the floor, with blood coming from his nose, ears and mouth.
The attack by Mr Major, who he had known since childhood, left Mr Bellman with a fractured skull and a severe traumatic brain injury.
Violence erupted as colleagues gathered in the Hilton Hotel for an early hours drink after the office party at Collingtree Golf Club.
Judge Barry Cotter QC ruled in 2016 that Northampton Recruitment could not be blamed for Mr Majors senseless act.
The office party had ended by the time he attacked Mr Bellman at 3am and he was no longer acting in his role as managing director.
Overturning that ruling today, Lady Justice Asplin ruled Mr Major had misused his position as the companys boss.
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The drinking session at the hotel was a very long way from being a social round of golf between colleagues, added the judge, who was sitting with Lords Justice Irwin and Moylan.
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She said: Mr Major was purporting to exercise his authority over his subordinates and was not merely one of a group of drunken revellers whose conversation had turned to work.
It seems to me that the attack arose from a misuse of the position entrusted to Mr Major as managing director.
He asserted his authority in the presence of around 50% of Northampton Recruitments staff and misused that authority.
The amount of Mr Bellmans damages payout has yet to be assessed, but his lawyers say he is claiming over £1 million.
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