The High Court has set aside a third-party notice served by The Frank Colgan Investment Co Ltd, trading as the Lucan Spa Hotel, after finding the hotel did not move to join the architects “as soon as is reasonably possible”.
The ruling concerns a personal injury action brought by Geraldine Thompson over a fall in the hotel car park on 5 February 2019. The judgment records that she alleges she tripped over a small kerb in a dark area where nearby overhead lights were not working. She suffered a serious fracture to her right shoulder and required surgery, which was unsuccessful, according to the judgment’s account of her pleaded case.
The hotel sought to bring Henry J. Lyons Architects into the proceedings, saying the firm had provided services related to the car park’s design. The architects applied to set aside the third-party notice, arguing that the hotel had delayed too long. The notice was served on 23 February 2022, more than two years after the personal injury summons was served on the hotel.
The hotel attributed the timeline to pandemic restrictions, the need to obtain engineering and architectural opinions, and delays in finalising and approving motion papers. An engineer inspected the premises in June 2020 and raised the possibility of responsibility on the part of the architects. An architect’s report received in December 2020 expressed the opinion that the proposed third party was liable for failing to design the car park safely. Those were explanations advanced on the hotel’s behalf, not findings that the architects were liable.
Mr Justice Barr accepted that the hotel had acted without undue delay in obtaining expert advice up to December 2020. But he found the hotel’s failure to issue its motion until 4 October 2021 was culpable. The reasons given for the further nine-month delay were not justified, he said, and there was no valid excuse for not issuing the motion in the early weeks of 2021.
The court concluded that the overall delay was excessive and failed the statutory requirement in section 27 of the Civil Liability Act 1961. It granted the architects’ application and set aside the third-party notice. The decision addressed the notice only; the judgment does not determine the plaintiff’s claim against the hotel or any allegation of professional negligence against the architects.