The Supreme Court has declared that Matheson, the solicitors who represented Lett & Company Limited in earlier proceedings, is entitled to a charge over costs awarded to the company, capped at €1,128,408. The order concerns the costs of the High Court action and Supreme Court appeal, and is subject to the conclusion of the party-and-party taxation process.
The application was brought under section 3 of the Legal Practitioners (Ireland) Act 1876. Lett had obtained compensation after a dispute over an exclusion zone affecting mussel beds in Wexford Harbour. The High Court awarded €1.15 million in 2007; on the State defendants’ appeal, the Supreme Court reduced the compensation to €650,000 in 2012 while affirming the High Court costs order and awarding Lett the appeal costs.
The solicitors said about €1.128 million remained outstanding for professional fees, expenses and outlay. The precise party-and-party costs payable to Lett were still being assessed by the Taxing Master. A €500,000 payment on account of costs, made by the State defendants in October 2013, remained in Lett’s client account with the solicitors at Lett’s insistence.
Lett opposed the application, arguing in particular that a mortgage debenture originally granted to Anglo Irish Bank gave the bank, or its successor Pine Investments, priority over the costs. Pine Investments had filed an affidavit setting out its position but did not appear at the hearing. Justice Laffoy said the Court could not determine the debenture’s construction or resolve priority in Pine Investments’ absence. The Court made no finding on whether the solicitors’ charge ranks ahead of the debenture; that dispute was left for another day, in the High Court if pursued.
The Court found the solicitors had a prima facie entitlement to a charge and that no countervailing consideration had been established to refuse it. It declared the charge over the costs awarded in both courts, capped at €1,128,408, and allowed either side to apply to vary the order once taxation is complete.
The Court also directed that, after taxation concludes, the €500,000 held in the client account be paid to the solicitors towards outstanding fees and expenses. The State defendants must pay the balance of the costs awarded to Lett directly to the solicitors within a reasonable period after taxation. The solicitors must account to Lett for those sums together, taking account of costs payments Lett has already made. They were also ordered to notify Pine Investments of the decision within one week.