The High Court allowed the receivers’ appeal over a Circuit Court decision that had dismissed their proceedings, ruling that a certificate issued under the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009 was sufficient evidence that the relevant assets had been acquired.
The appeal concerned about 25 acres at Milltown Road, Newbridge, County Kildare, secured by a 2005 deed of mortgage and charge granted by Declan Gardiner, John Nugent and Ted Nugent to Allied Irish Banks Plc. NAMA acquired the deed of charge from AIB in 2010 and appointed Con Cronin and Roger Keogh as statutory receivers in 2012.
William Sexton entered into a licence agreement with Ted and John Nugent in June 2009 at an annual fee of €4,200. He had conceded possession of the property to the receivers. The judgment said the only remaining issue was a claim for damages.
The Circuit Court had dismissed the proceedings on 8 October 2015, deciding that a certificate under section 108 was insufficient because a loan facility letter dated 26 June 2008 had not been produced. That letter postdated the deed of charge.
In a judgment delivered on 19 February 2016, Mr Justice Michael White said the statute made a section 108 certificate conclusive as to the matters it set out. The receivers were not required to produce the later loan facility letter. Once the certificate was adduced and duly proved, the burden shifted to Sexton to establish a right to remain on the land or to resist a claim for damages. He could have introduced evidence to contradict the receivers’ evidence.
The High Court held that the Circuit Court judge was obliged to accept the certificate dated 22 April 2015, which certified that National Asset Loan Management Limited had acquired the relevant assets. The judgment does not state the final disposition of the damages claim.