Judge has a field day cracking puns in Singapore tea lawsuit

SINGAPORE -- A local judge clearly had some punny fun presiding over a lawsuit between the former and current owners of luxury tea company, TWG Tea.

Judicial commissioner Chua Lee Ming on Friday dismissed a case by TWG Tea co-founder Manoj Murjani against several parties including the owner of local lifestyle company Osim, the Straits Times reported.

In his judgment, Chua called the suit "nothing more than a very big storm in a tiny tea cup."

He added that that the disagreements between Murjani and Osim CEO, Ron Sim, "boiled over and spilled into this court."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The two parties were locked in a legal battle over the past two years, which involved amongst their grievances, counterclaims of defamation.

Murjani was also alleging that Sim and several other parties had pushed him out as CEO of TWG Tea, and acted "oppressively" in edging out his share of the company.

Murjani's company, The Wellness Group, launched the tea brand in 2007. Osim acquired an initial 35% of TWG Tea in 2011, and later raised its overall ownership to 69.9% in 2014.

The judge decided that Murjani's resignation as CEO in 2012 was of his own accord, and that there was "no commercial unfairness" in the issue of share ownership. He dismissed all claims of defamation from both sides.

Osim is listed on the Singapore Exchange, and is known for making lifestyle products like massage chairs. It owns U.S. retail chain Brookstone.

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