A textile millionaire couple who went from rags to riches have won a legal fight with their son-in-law after he launched a ‘smash and grab’ raid on their £10million fortune.
Natalie Berg, 73, built up Fabric Land over five decades after starting out as a market trader in 1971 – going on to develop a multimillion-pound business with her husband Jeremy, 75.
The couple’s daughter Marnie and her husband Darren Hill later joined the family firm, with Marnie dedicating 30 years of her life to it.
But following her suicide at the age of 49 in 2022 – at which time she was estranged from Mr Hill – a family war erupted between her parents and their son-in-law.
Mr Hill sued for ownership of the fabric business in court, which he valued at £10million.
He claimed the Bergs had promised the company would be handed to him and Marnie by the pool during a family holiday in Vietnam in 2004, three years before he began working for them.
And since Marnie has now passed away, he argued that the whole business and all its assets should be handed to him by her pensioner parents.
But the Bergs insisted no promises were ever made, accusing Darren of ‘an attempt…to orchestrate a spectacular “smash and grab” of [their] assets’.
Natalie and Jeremy Berg outside Central London County Court after a hearing in dispute over shares in Fabric Land
Darren Hill outside Central London County Court after the hearing about ownership of Fabric Land
In her evidence, Ms Berg said she had worked hard to build up Fabric Land over the years, telling the court she had ‘no intention of giving it to anyone’.
After a four-day trial at Central London County Court, Judge Nigel Gerald has now dismissed Mr Hill’s claim to ownership of the business as ‘unreal’.
During the trial, Darren insisted that the assurances he would one day take control of Fabric Land were repeated many times over the years.
He began working for the company in 2007, claiming that he went on to act as an executive manager for the next 15 years.
Judge Gerald said: ‘Looking at things generally, I don’t find Mr Hill a particularly credible witness.
He added: ‘The repetition of mentioning about the transfer of ownership of the family business to Mr Hill and Marnie is something which I find to be not credible.
‘There seems to be something unreal in the thrust of his claim.’
Fabric Land, according to the company’s website, became a thriving textiles chain after starting out at a market stall in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Darren Hill and his late wife Marnie Hill (pictured at a party), who took her own life aged 49 in May 2022
It now has a HQ near Bournemouth as well as online and high street outlets.
It supplies the theatrical departments of several well known cruise companies, including Carnival Cruise Liners and Cunard.
The court heard Marnie joined the family firm at the age of 16, going on to work with her parents for the next 30 years until she took her own life in May 2022.
Her husband Mr Hill had also worked for the company between 2007 and 2022.
He told the judge he only switched jobs on the back of the ‘clear promises’ his wife’s parents made that he and Marnie would take over the business.
Mr Hill said he worked ‘long and unsociable hours’ for relatively little reward, and that he carried on his heavy workload ‘during annual leave, over holidays and through ill-health’.
His barrister James Saunders labelled the Berg’s ‘total denial of any promises or assurances’ as ‘extreme’ and suggested the couple may be motivated by deep-seated hostility towards their son-in-law because they both ‘blame Darren for their daughter’s death.’
But the Bergs insisted he should not take the reins of the company and was ‘never fit for management.’
The couple’s barrister Pepin Aslett said: ‘Mr and Mrs Berg will say that the true reason for this claim is no more than an attempt by Darren to orchestrate a spectacular ‘smash and grab’ of Mr and Mrs Berg’s assets.’
Their son-in-law never had a pivotal role in the company, he added, pointing out that ‘at no time was he a shareholder or a director’.
He also dismissed Mr Hill’s claim that Fabric Land could be worth up to £10million as ‘pie in the sky’.
Fabric Land’s shop in Kingston. The company also boasts an HQ near Bournemouth
Mr Hill had also ‘walked out of the company,’ formally resigning in June 2022 and, at the time of her death, Marnie was ‘estranged’ from him and instructing divorce lawyers, Mr Asleet added.
Taking a job with Fabric Land was a step up for Mr Hill, claimed the barrister, saying he also picked up a range of benefits while working there.
The judge in his ruling said the Bergs had ‘tended to deny’ the contributions that Mr Hill had made to the business.
‘His parents-in-law sought to undermine or underplay what Mr Hill did,’ said the judge.
‘But he was never a director, which is slightly at odds with Mr Hill saying that he was being groomed to take over.’
He accepted that in the context of a family business there may have been an ‘understanding’ that Marnie and Darren would ultimately take over Fabric Land, but this was a far cry from clear and binding promises having been made by the Bergs.
‘The mere fact that there was expected to be a transition at some point does not, in the context of this case, support a finding that there have been promises or assurances from the Bergs, either back in Vietnam or subsequently, to the effect that Darren would succeed to running the business.’
The judge dismissed Darren’s ownership claim in relation to Fabric Land company shares and its two warehouses, saying: ‘I’m unable to accept that either Natalie or Jeremy made any promises or assurances to Mr Hill or Marnie back in Vietnam in 2004 to the effect that they would become joint owners on their retirement.’
While rejecting the bulk of Darren’s case, he allowed his claim as administrator of Marnie’s estate over unpaid share dividends worth between £50,000 to £100,000.
