- .Eirian Davies, 45, launched legal battle for 'rightful share' of £3.8m farm
- .She had stayed at home to look after dairy herd while sisters went out
- .Miss Davies said parents Tegwyn and Mary promised farm would be hers
- .Sisters 'paraded through poultry shed in ball gowns' as she prepared turkeys, and she was warned 'not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg'
- .Miss Davies launched legal fight against parents after they tried to evict her
- .She was today awarded £1.3m in compensation for unpaid work
A farmer's daughter who says she stayed at home to milk the cows while her sisters went out partying has won a £1.3million payout from her parents.
Eirian Davies, 45, said she was assured by her parents Tegwyn, 75, and Mary, 76, that she would eventually take over the family dairy farm in Carmarthenshire and its pedigree milking herd after working for years for free.
But after a family row broke out they began proceedings to evict Miss Davies, who was nicknamed the 'Cowshed Cinderella', prompting her to launch a legal battle for her 'rightful share' of their £3.8million estate.
Eirian Davies (pictured), 45, nicknamed the 'Cowshed Cinderella', who says she stayed at home to milk the cows while her sisters went out partying has won a £1.3million payout from her parents
She won the case against her parents, and last year a legal challenge by her parents was rejected by the Appeal Court.
Miss Davies was today awarded £1.3million in compensation by the High Court in Cardiff for her 30 years of work - and losing out on her freedom as a teenager.
Miss Davies had told the original hearing that she missed out on going to Young Farmers' Club dances with her two sisters, Enfys and Eleri, as a teenager because she had to stay at home to deal with her chores at Caeremlyn Farm.
Her parents had promised that her patience and hard work would be rewarded with the entire farm and pedigree dairy herd when they retired.
Miss Davies said she was assured by her parents Tegwyn, 75, (right) and Mary, 76, (left) that she would eventually take over the dairy farm in Carmarthenshire and its milking herd after working for years for free
Miss Davies said she missed out on going to Young Farmers' Club dances with her two sisters, Enfys and Eleri, as a teenager because she had to stay at home to deal with her chores at Caeremlyn Farm (pictured)
Miss Davies said: 'They always told me that the farm would be left to me.
'Even on my birthday, when the other girls were having things, they would say: 'You will have the damn lot one day, it will all be yours'.'
She said her sisters once paraded through the poultry shed in their ball gowns while she prepared turkeys for Christmas, and that her father would regularly warn her 'not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg' if she complained about her treatment.
Miss Davies claimed that until she reached the age of 21, she was paid nothing at all for her work on the farm and, after that, there was a period when she was paid just £15-a-day for milking the cows, although sometimes she received more.
Miss Davies (pictured) says her parents had always told her that she would be left the farm, but they later proposed to place the farm in trust for the benefit of all three sisters
The court heard she had a 'passionate interest' in the herd, and by 1989 was the only daughter at the farm after her sisters began other careers.
When she left to work elsewhere her father begged her to return to the farm.
But although her parents had 'pinned their hopes' on their hardworking daughter, over the years they became increasingly annoyed by her relationships with men and the prospect of her having children.
Lord Justice Floyd, sitting at the Appeal Court, said this concern was not so much the men involved but 'any children that they had and how that may impact upon their duties to keep the business in the family'.
He said: 'Her mother referred to a string of men, to whom she referred as 'wretches', with kids behind them.'
Miss Davies claims she was shown a draft will in 2009 that left the lion's share of the farm to her.
However, her parents subsequently proposed to place the farm in trust for the benefit of all three sisters equally.
Family relations hit rock bottom in August 2012 during an altercation in which milk was thrown over Miss Davies by her mother, and she and her father ended up wrestling on the floor, where she bit her father's leg.
It led to the legal battle in which Mr and Mrs Davies sought to evict their daughter from the farm cottage where she still lives, close to her parents' farmhouse, while she fought for her share of the farm.
The Appeal Court found Miss Davies had relied on her parents' promises and thrown herself into working on the farm. She was thus entitled to a 'beneficial interest' in the business.
Dismissing her parents' appeal against the ruling in May last year, Lord Justice Floyd described the dispute as 'in many ways a tragic case'.
It was ruled that the farm (pictured) was worth about £3.8 million and an 'appropriate award' for Miss Davies would be £1.3 million for her to start a farm of her own
Mr and Mrs Davies had argued in court that compensation should be measured by a sum of money enabling their daughter to buy a house.
But the court said this would not truly reflect Miss Davies's suffering - nor the nature of the promise that she was made.
It was ruled that the farm was worth about £3.8 million and an 'appropriate award' for Miss Davies would be £1.3 million for her to start a farm of her own.
Miss Davies said today: 'My mother is now seeking leave to appeal the judge's decision. I don't think now would be the right time to talk.
'I don't care what anyone says, I know the truth. One day I will write a book.'
Wiljo Salen, partner at Hugh James solicitors in Cardiff, said: 'I can say that Ms Davies is looking forward to concluding what has been a very hurtful and distressing period.'
No comments:
Post a Comment