The High Court has ordered a lis pendens registered against lands in County Galway to be vacated, finding that Darren Collins had unreasonably delayed prosecuting his claim to an interest in the property. The court also inferred that the proceedings were not being pursued bona fide and appeared intended to frustrate enforcement of a mortgage.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Garrett Simons on 26 July 2019, concerned an application by receiver Ken Fennell under section 123 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009. Fennell said the lis pendens was preventing him from exercising the mortgage’s power of sale.
Collins, described in the judgment as the registered owner’s nephew, had issued separate proceedings in May 2017 claiming a beneficial interest in the lands. He said his claim arose from an alleged promise by his uncle, Sean Murphy, to give him an interest after Collins had worked on the farm for several years. Collins said the promise was made about 12 years before the hearing. The judge noted it postdated the mortgage, which he said would therefore have priority over any beneficial-interest claim.
Collins’s summons sought a declaration that he owned the lands beneficially, recognition of his alleged contributions to their upkeep, and orders concerning mortgages and dealings with the property. The lis pendens was registered on the land folio in February 2018. Beyond serving the summons, Collins had taken no steps to progress his claim, and Murphy had not entered an appearance.
In response to Fennell’s application, Collins’s affidavits argued that citizens were immune from court orders under the constitutional guarantee of equality, relying on unrelated proceedings involving the Director of Public Prosecutions. The judge rejected that argument. At the hearing on 22 July 2019, Collins offered no reasonable explanation for the delay, referring only to his brother having emigrated to Australia.
The court found the delay unreasonable under section 123. It also inferred from the delay, the family relationship, the summons’s emphasis on restraining a sale, and the timing of the alleged promise that the proceedings appeared intended to frustrate enforcement of the mortgage.
The judgment states that vacating a lis pendens does not end the underlying proceedings or alter their pleadings. The court ordered the lis pendens vacated; the source does not record a final decision on Collins’s claim to an interest in the lands.