The High Court ordered R.E.P. Limited wound up after finding that its dispute over a €61,836 debt to Allied Insulation Limited was not bona fide on substantial grounds. Declan Taite and Anne O’Dwyer were appointed joint official liquidators.
In a judgment delivered on 1 October 2012, Ms Justice Laffoy said Allied Insulation had supplied insulation products to the company and petitioned to wind it up on 25 June 2012. The petition relied on the company’s failure to meet a statutory demand under section 214 of the Companies Act 1963.
The company disputed the debt, saying ductwrap it had received was unsaleable because it lacked a CE mark and that credits were due for alleged undersupply and overcharging. It also challenged how the demand had been served. The first demand, sent by registered post in December 2011, was followed by a further demand delivered by hand to the company’s registered office in February 2012.
The judge found that the company’s own account statement recorded the four invoices at issue and showed a balance of €66,835.71 in October 2010. The company had acknowledged that balance in an email, and a subsequent €5,000 payment brought it to about €61,836. The claimed VAT-inclusive credit of €17,484.11 first appeared in the company’s replying affidavit. A separate credit claim of about €71,736, made in direct correspondence, was not set out in that affidavit.
The court also considered the company’s claim that ductwrap valued at €66,590.98 could not be sold. The judge found it had been supplied and accepted before CE marking was required for the product in Ireland or under EU law. She concluded that inability to resell it did not justify withholding payment.
The judgment records that the company disputed the debt, but the court concluded the dispute lacked substantial grounds and that the petition was not an abuse of process. The judge was satisfied that Allied Insulation had met the formal requirements and that the company was deemed unable to pay its debts because it had not complied with the statutory demand. The order wound up the company and appointed the joint liquidators; the judgment states that the rest of the order was in the usual form.