The High Court granted Allied Irish Banks plc summary judgment for €1,514,158.44 against Barry Aughey, finding he had not established a real or bona fide defence requiring a full hearing.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Brian J. McGovern on 1 December 2015, concerned four facilities issued by the bank. The claimed sum represented the monies lent under those facilities, identified in the judgment as facilities 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The court expressly distinguished the claim from a separate €14,015,089 facility relating to Monaghan Retail Park. That facility was not part of these proceedings, although both sets of facility letters were issued on 28 April 2009.
Aughey did not dispute signing the facility letters or receiving the funds. In an affidavit, he said the terms of the 2009 facility letter relied on in this case had never been agreed. He described negotiations over restructuring his overall debts and said his acceptance had been conditional on a cap on personal recourse, changes to interest rates and a repayment moratorium. The judgment records that the discussions took place after he signed the facility letter and that he accepted no final agreement had been reached.
The bank produced a signed letter relating to the separate Monaghan Retail Park facility, which included a handwritten note about keeping that loan interest-only until the end of December 2011. The judge said the negotiations and note related to that separate facility, not the four facilities in the claim.
At the hearing, Aughey’s counsel also raised a suggestion that a handwritten note had varied the facility letter in these proceedings. The judge said the assertion had not been supported by credible evidence in an affidavit; the bank denied such a note existed. An estoppel argument based on the negotiations was also raised at the hearing. The judge found no affidavit evidence of a clear representation by the bank and noted that the negotiations followed the signing of the facility letter.
The court concluded that the bank had proved its entitlement to judgment and that Aughey had not met the test for sending the matter to a plenary hearing. It entered summary judgment for the amount claimed. The judgment does not state an order for costs.