The High Court has dismissed David Garvey’s appeal against a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decision that there was no prima facie case for an inquiry into alleged misconduct by solicitor Matthew J. Nangle.
In a judgment delivered on 11 April 2011, President Kearns said he had reviewed the file and affidavits sworn by Garvey and Nangle. He said Garvey’s appeal affidavit disclosed no new material or information to corroborate the allegations.
The allegations had been made in Garvey’s application to the tribunal for an inquiry. They included claims that Nangle had improperly influenced Cork County Council over whether Ballyhoura Lodge should be listed as a protected structure, and had pursued court cases against the Murtagh family in an effort to dispossess them of the property. Garvey also alleged that Nangle knew Mary Rose O’Connell had no rights to the lodge but granted the Murtaghs a lease, misled legal bodies and the High Court, and was responsible for theft, fraud and perjury.
The tribunal rejected each allegation for lack of evidence on which it could form a view that a prima facie case for inquiry existed. The High Court said there was no evidence before it that Nangle had misconducted himself. It dismissed Garvey’s application and made no finding of misconduct.