The High Court has allowed Everyday Finance DAC to replace Allied Irish Banks plc (AIB) as plaintiff for the part of a 2017 order requiring two defendants to pay fixed sums. The change relates to the underlying facilities and guarantees transferred to Everyday; AIB’s entitlement to the costs awarded in 2017 remains unchanged.
In a judgment delivered on 16 July 2021, Mr Justice Brian O’Moore found that the legal interest in the facilities and guarantees had been validly and effectively assigned to Everyday. He ordered relief in the terms sought in paragraph one of Everyday’s notice of motion, dated 16 August 2020.
The original order was made by Ms Justice Costello on 12 May 2017. It entered judgment for €1,469,251.43 against Paddy McKeown and €1,467,102.96 against Adelaide McCarthy, and awarded AIB its costs, to be taxed and ascertained. The defendants’ appeal was unsuccessful, and the Supreme Court refused leave to appeal in March 2020.
Everyday had previously been joined as an additional plaintiff after AIB transferred the relevant facilities and guarantees. It then sought to replace AIB in the part of the order dealing with the fixed sums. The court said the application was procedural and did not reopen the underlying debt judgment, which was no longer open to challenge through the failed appeals. O’Moore said the transfer of the underlying rights was sufficient; the court order itself did not need to be expressly assigned.
The defendants opposed the application on numerous grounds, including claims that the transfer was invalid and that the documents or transactions involved fraud. Those were allegations by the defendants, not findings of criminal wrongdoing. O’Moore rejected the objections relevant to the motion, finding that the evidence supported Everyday’s account of the transfer. He said contested criminality allegations were not for determination in this procedural application and declined to turn it into a wider inquiry.
The order did not transfer AIB’s 2017 costs award to Everyday. The court described the result as reflecting that the debt rights had transferred but the earlier costs entitlement had not. It also noted that any sums recovered from either defendant would reduce the corresponding indebtedness of the other, consistent with their joint and several liability.
The court listed outstanding matters, including costs, for 29 July 2021. The judgment did not determine those matters.