The High Court has declared that a property at 4–6 Barrett Street, Ballina, belongs to Joe Miley and Partners (Dublin) Ltd, which is in liquidation, and appointed a new trustee to complete its transfer to the company.
In a judgment delivered on 15 November 2022, Ms Justice Butler appointed solicitor Daire Murphy as trustee of the property in place of Joseph Miley, John Brett and Eamonn Brett. She directed Mr Murphy to execute the transfer and related documents needed to put the property’s legal title in the company’s name. The court also granted the liquidator liberty to apply if further difficulties arise.
The liquidator had sought to secure the property for the company’s creditors. The land consists of a residential premises and adjoining lockup in central Ballina. The three respondents held the registered title, but the judge found that the company had become its full beneficial owner by 2012 at the latest. She relied on company accounts and tax returns, signed by the Bretts as directors, which treated the property as a company asset, and on the partnership accounts, which did not list it as one.
The respondents had previously agreed to transfer the property, but the Bretts opposed the application in November 2021. They argued that the agreement had rested on an inaccurate 2009 reconciliation showing money owed by the partnership to the company. They sought an independent review of the accounts before consenting to the transfer. The liquidator disputed their position and argued that collecting company assets could not depend on a third-party investigation or the Bretts’ agreement with its outcome.
The judge said the Bretts’ earlier statements and conduct supported the company’s ownership, but she did not decide the application on the basis that they were legally barred from opposing it. She also said allegations of misappropriation by Mr Miley did not justify leaving the property with the partnership, and that any creditors must claim through the liquidation’s statutory distribution process.
The court did not directly vest the property in the company under section 26 of the Trustee Act 1893. The judge found that the evidence did not establish that the trustees could not be found, and that a required formal demand followed by 28 days’ refusal or neglect had not been shown. She instead used section 25 to appoint a substitute trustee, and declared the lands to be company property under section 596 of the Companies Act 2014. The judgment left open whether a direct vesting order could follow an appointment under section 25, saying that issue should be decided in a case where it is fully argued.