The High Court has granted Allied Irish Banks plc judgment for €6,091,208 against Kenneth MacMorland in a claim based on a guarantee, refusing his request to have the case sent to a plenary hearing. The order for judgment and the costs order were stayed until 30 November 2016, but no longer insofar as the court was concerned.
The ex tempore judgment was delivered by Ms Justice O’Regan on 27 July 2016. The bank’s summary summons, issued on 19 June 2014, sought judgment for the debt. The court noted that a misstatement in the notice of motion had been amended by consent.
The bank relied on a full guarantee signed by Mr MacMorland on 26 October 2006, the day after he signed a guarantee limited to his 14 per cent shareholding in Forresthaze Developments Limited. The judgment described him as a tax consultant and company secretary, and said he had promoted the company and served as its chief executive. The full guarantee followed an amended letter of sanction that he also signed.
In resisting summary judgment, Mr MacMorland said a representation by Margaret O’Donnell had led him to sign the full guarantee. The judgment records that she had not sworn an affidavit. The bank accepted that his account of the conversation should be taken at its highest; the judge said that questioning Ms O’Donnell was therefore not a basis for a plenary hearing.
The judge rejected his assertion that he understood the guarantee to be short-term, finding no basis for it in the documents. She also rejected his argument that the bank’s restructuring in 2010 justified a hearing, and found the requirement concerning independent legal advice was a special condition for the bank’s benefit, which it could waive, rather than a condition precedent. The judgment further records his claim that he would have acted to prevent the restructuring had he known of it, but the judge said he could not have created difficulty for that process.
Having considered the legal issues on the summary motion, the judge concluded the matter could be decided without a plenary hearing. She refused the adjournment, awarded the bank judgment for €6,091,208 and allowed its costs, subject to the stay until 30 November 2016.