LEOPARDSTOWN CLUB LIMITED granted leave to appeal

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The Supreme Court granted LEOPARDSTOWN CLUB LIMITED leave to appeal on 9 February 2016. The determination was made by Denham C.J., MacMenamin J. and Dunne J.

The application concerned a Court of Appeal decision delivered on 26 July 2015 in a dispute with TEMPLEVILLE DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED and Philip Smith. The dispute involved alleged misrepresentation inducing a Mediated Settlement Agreement and knowledge of a transverse cable crossing the intended site of seven tennis courts at Leopardstown Racecourse.

The Court of Appeal held that the High Court trial judge, Charleton J., had misdirected himself in law and failed to make sufficient explicit or implicit findings of fact to support his conclusion that there had been no misrepresentation, or no material misrepresentation, inducing the agreement.

In judgments delivered by Finlay Geoghegan J. and Hogan J., the Court of Appeal held that the company had failed to establish that the respondents had actual knowledge of the cable when entering the agreement. It concluded that their constructive knowledge was insufficient to defeat their misrepresentation counterclaim.

The Court of Appeal upheld the respondents’ appeal against the dismissal of their counterclaim seeking rescission of the agreement. It directed a retrial of the single issue of the company’s alleged misrepresentation in the High Court before a different judge.

The company challenged the entirety of the Court of Appeal’s judgments and order. It argued that the appeal raised issues of general public importance and that the Court of Appeal had fundamentally misconstrued its role under Hay v. O'Grady.