The Court of Appeal has ordered Allied Irish Banks plc’s challenge to a voluntary property transfer to be remitted from the High Court to the Circuit Court in Cork. The ruling decides where the case may be heard; it does not determine whether the transfer was made to defraud a creditor or whether it should be declared void.
AIB brought proceedings in the High Court in May 2015 under section 74(3) of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009. It seeks to have a 2010 conveyance declared void. Before that transfer, the property was jointly owned by Martine Gannon and Richard Fair, who are married. The conveyance transferred Gannon’s interest to Fair, who is now the sole owner. The property is their principal private dwelling in Cork.
The defendants sought to have the proceedings transferred to the Circuit Court. Their solicitor’s affidavit said Fair was retired and that defending the case there would reduce his costs. AIB filed no replying affidavit. The High Court refused the transfer, saying the bank probably had an election about which court to use. It said the defendants could seek costs on the Circuit Court scale if AIB succeeded, given their earlier effort to have the case remitted.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal first considered whether the Circuit Court had jurisdiction over claims under section 74. The provision itself does not specify which court may hear such claims. But the court held that the section must be read with the 2009 Act’s definition of “court” and provisions giving the Circuit Court jurisdiction in cases concerning title to land and the setting aside or cancellation of deeds. The property’s rateable valuation was below the relevant statutory limit.
The court then considered whether the case should be transferred. It said the law encourages cases to be heard at the lowest appropriate level, while allowing the High Court to retain a case where the circumstances make it reasonable for proceedings to have begun there. It found nothing in the pleadings suggesting this was more than a routine section 74 application concerning a transfer between spouses. The case was Cork-based, and AIB had not filed evidence pointing to unusual or special circumstances that warranted the High Court forum.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and directed that the proceedings be remitted to the Circuit Court under section 25 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924. Its order concerns the forum for the continuing case. The judgment does not resolve AIB’s underlying allegation or grant the requested declaration.