Courts / Kilkenny / Report

Hoteliers sue bank over over allegedly wrongful €3m refinancing fee

Date
2018-06-21

Stage
Hearing Or Decision

Primary locality
Castlecomer

Summary

Joseph Comerford, a well‑known hotelier from Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, and his sons John and Derek, who run the Academy Plaza Hotel on Dublin's O'Connell Street, have filed a lawsuit against Ulster Bank over a €3 million refinancing fee they claim was imposed under duress. The Comerfords say the bank pressured them to refinance loans during the recession, alleging the hotel was in default in 2012. They argue the bank used this situation to take equity in their business and extract an unreasonable fee through its Global Restructuring Group. The €3 million payment was made in December 2014 via Ulster Bank's entity UB SIG (ROI). In 2015 the family refinanced the debt and ended their relationship with the bank. Represented by Downes Solicitors, they seek orders to recover the money, declarations that the agreements were void and unconscionable, and damages for economic loss, undue influence, breach of duty and duress.