The High Court has dismissed all claims brought by James McConnon against Zurich Bank Ireland over a €32m loan used for a shopping centre project in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
In a judgment delivered on 23 May 2012, Mr Justice Kelly held that the claims were barred by the earlier summary judgment in the Bank’s proceedings to recover the loan. That judgment was under appeal to the Supreme Court, but the judge ruled that the pending appeal did not prevent it from being final and conclusive for res judicata purposes.
The Bank had obtained summary judgment against Mr McConnon in March 2011. The Supreme Court refused his request for a stay on enforcement in July that year. He later brought the present proceedings, alleging, among other things, misrepresentation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence. He sought declarations affecting the loan agreement and his indebtedness, damages, and a stay of enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings.
The judge found that the claims in the statement of claim either had been raised in the summary proceedings or should have been raised then. He applied both res judicata and the rule in Henderson v Henderson, which can prevent a party from raising in later litigation matters that could have been advanced in earlier proceedings. The judge said the claims were no longer justiciable.
Mr McConnon had also described a Bank “Executive Summary” as new evidence. The judge found it had been available to his counsel and the court during the summary judgment hearing, and therefore was not new evidence for this application.
The judge separately dismissed a claim that the Bank had acted ultra vires by disregarding three named statutes, finding no legal or factual basis for the relief sought. He also dismissed the request to stay enforcement, noting that the Supreme Court had already refused a stay and that the High Court could not revisit that decision.
To the extent Mr McConnon alleged the tort of reckless lending, the judge held that no such civil wrong existed in Irish law and dismissed it as having no reasonable prospect of success. The judge did not decide whether the Bank had failed to comply with a High Court practice direction, saying no adverse consequence had resulted. The claims against the President of Ireland had been discontinued, and Mr McConnon had consented to the claims against the other State defendants being struck out. The order dismissed all reliefs against the Bank.