$500,000 after sacking a band he hired to play at the club.

The group Exotique, which is fronted by Bermudian twins Stephan and Rupert Hinds, had been contracted by the club to work for two years as the house band. They were to be paid $7,500 each week under the contract; beginning on March 15, 1996 and finishing on November 30, 1997.

The group, which was originally formed in 1986 as Electronic Symphony, relocated from the States to Bermuda to take up the contract. But ten weeks into their stay on the Island, Pier Six owner Nelson Hunt sacked the group.

Last week Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux ruled that Mr. Hunt and his Inner Harbour Company had breached their legal responsibilities to the six-member band.

"I rule that the defendants are liable in damages for the breach that led to the discharge of the contract,'' Mr. Meerabux said in his judgment.

Mr. Meerabux assessed damages as 27 unpaid weeks in 1996 and 37 unpaid weeks in 1997 at $7,500 per week.

He deducted from this total of $472,500 a contract worth $74,200 which the band managed to secure in the United Arab Emirates in 1997.

Mr. Meerabux ordered that the remaining $398,300 and interest and credit charges going back to the date of the writ be awarded.

During the trial defence attorney Delroy Duncan argued that Mr. Hunt had exercised a 30-day "right to cancel'' after signing the two-year employment contract with the band on December 1, 1995.

Mr. Hunt did send a letter to band member and manager Stephan Hinds dated December 13, 1995 saying that as a result of financial constraints, the agreement with the band and Mr. Hinds was terminated.

But Mr. Hinds testified that after receiving the letter, he called Mr. Hunt and was told "I need you guys''.

The band arrived in the first week of March and played at the club's opening on March 8, 1996. On May 23rd of that year, the band were told their final performance would be that week.

According to judgment, Mr. Hunt admitted under cross-examination by the band's lawyer Richard Horseman of Wakefield & Quin, that there was no 30 day option to cancel in the contract.

However, Mr. Hunt said that Mr. Hinds knew the 30 day option existed and when he and the band agreed to come to Bermuda, it was to be on a week to week basis.

In the judgment, Mr. Meerabux rejected this argument and upheld the original contract.

"I find that the first defendant (Nelson Hunt) was not a credible witness and I reject his evidence,'' he wrote.

Mr. Hunt had also testified that he had not been happy with the band's performance and that it had been draining the club of business.

But on cross-examination by Mr. Horseman he said "the main reason for the termination of the contract was that it was not financially viable for him and that it was expensive to run a business in this country and you have to be very careful,'' according to the judgment.

The Pier Six club was run by Mr. Hunt from December 1995 until January 1998 when the management of the club was turned over to Elbow Beach and the name changed to The Surf Club.

The Surf Club opened in April 1998 and Elbow Beach ran that club for one year.

In May 1999 the property was reborn as a sushi bar, steakhouse and microbrewery run by the Bermuda Triangle Brewing Company and featured well-known local comedian however it closed just six months later because it was losing money.

Mr. Hunt then once again brought Pier Six back from the ashes in April of last year. He then changed the property to a sushi restaurant called D'Mikado.

Yesterday Mr. Hunt said he intended to appeal the judgment.

"I think the judgment was wrong,'' he said. "Just because a court says it, it doesn't make it right.