Just a few months after Kolonial did not take over the Coop facility, the floor had to be repaired. Now they are suing Coop for 22 million. – E24

Since its inception in 2013, Kolonial.no has largely focused on home grocery delivery. With a turnover of just over a billion, they are still a little brother in the Norwegian grocery industry.

Now they meet Coop in court. Kolonial.no has sued the food giant with a claim for compensation for the cracks in the floor of the premises it rents from Coop in Lørenskog.

– It is obvious that this is the responsibility of the owner, says Karl Munthe-Kaas. He is the CEO of Kolonial.no.

The case will go to the Nedre Romerike District Court next Monday.

References received from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority

It was in May 2016 that Kolonial.no took over the Coop facility in Lørenskog. In January 2017, he visited the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. They believed that the premises did not meet the technical requirements of the building.

Hygiene requirements of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority state that facilities must have “easily washable surfaces”.

– Our concrete floor had too many cracks. Most of these floors have cracks, but there were too many here to be considered easy to wash, says Munthe-Kaas.

The deficiencies cost Kolonial no 12 million to remedy. Also, the work was at the expense of productivity and thus lost income. The claim is for a total of NOK 22 million.

– The floor covering was ordered to be rehabilitated. In some places in the warehouse a new cover was put in place, while in other places the cracks were covered, says Munthe-Kaas.

From the beginning, Coop refused to pay the bill. Now it is up to the district court to decide on the conflict. Coop’s wholly owned subsidiary, Norsk Butikkdrift, has been sued.

Norsk Butikkdrift is the company that operates the nearly 450 old ICA stores that Coop bought in 2015.

Kolonial.no has retained attorney Erlend W. Holstrøm at the Schjødt Law Firm.

Coop disputes the claim

Aftenposten / E24 has tried to get a comment from Coop.

– The case is before the court. Therefore, we do not want to comment on the matter now, says communications manager Harald Kristiansen.

Coop is represented by attorney Tage Brigt A. Skoghøy of the Simonsen Vogt Wiig law firm.

In their final presentation to the court, Kolonial’s claims are not rejected. Coop does not accept that they have breached the lease.

“Kolonial.no AS has chosen to take measures in its own interest and made it impossible for Norsk Butikkdrift AS to take a position on what technical construction measures were actually required,” they write.

Coop also notes that Kolonial. Did not take over the premises after having inspected it himself.

“They were / should be familiar with the requirements for their own business, and then they cannot claim as a lack of conditions that they knew about.” It’s too late, “writes Coop.

They disputed the first complaint, which was filed in spring 2017.

Coop now believes the claim is out of date due to the three-year term.

The facilities were taken in May 2016 and the lawsuit was not filed until 2020.

– You have not done more than necessary

Munthe-Kaas disagrees with Coop.

– The lease agreement was clear that it was the owner’s responsibility that the building maintained the correct standard. We immediately informed them that they had to rectify. The response was so slow that we couldn’t wait any longer. Then our operations would stop, he says.

– Have you improved more than necessary?

– In.

– You were in an inspection before taking over. Shouldn’t he have seen that the room didn’t meet the requirements?

– Both Coop and we were on an inspection. They had been operating there for decades before we entered. None of us saw that the floors would not be considered easy to wash.

– Does Coop think the claim is out of date?

– We dispute it. We weren’t able to find out about this until the order arrived. We have been in continuous dialogue with Coop to resolve it.