Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy on Wednesday won the majority of his case against the Premier League club for over £11 million ($14.2 million) in unpaid wages.
The France international filed a claim against Manchester City last year, seeking unpaid wages from when the club stopped paying him in September 2021, shortly after he was charged with sexual offences, until the end of his contract in June 2023.
Mendy was acquitted of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in January 2023, following a trial at Chester Crown Court. He was found not guilty of one count of rape and one of attempted rape after a retrial.
The 30-year-old argued City unlawfully deducted wages that he was due under his contract, saying in a witness statement that he had been promised he would be paid after he was cleared.
City's lawyers, however, said Mendy was not paid because he was not able to perform his duties as he was held in custody before his trial for breaching his bail conditions.
"Mr Mendy is entitled to recover some, but not all, of the sums claimed," Judge Joanne Dunlop said in a written ruling on Wednesday.
Manchester City did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dunlop said in her ruling that Mendy spent two periods in custody, covering about five months of the 22-month period of his claim and during which City was entitled to withhold his pay.
When Mendy was not in custody, Dunlop found, he was "ready and willing to work" and prevented from doing so by his suspension by the Football Association and bail conditions "which were unavoidable or involuntary on his part."
"Having had to wait for 3 years for my wages, I am delighted with the decision and sincerely hope that the Club will now do the honourable thing and pay the outstanding amounts, as well as the other amounts promised to me under the contract, without further delay, so I can finally put this difficult part of my life behind me," Mendy said in a statement after the judgement.
Mendy joined City from AS Monaco in 2017 for a fee of around £52m, on an annual salary of £6m.
He signed for French club Lorient, currently in Ligue 2, shortly after his retrial.
Source: espn.co.uk