The High Court ruled that James Horgan was not released from a guarantee he gave to Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank, and that the bank was entitled to judgment for €151,511.32. The judgment was delivered by Mr Justice Birmingham on 7 March 2014.
The bank sought the money under a written guarantee Horgan signed on 23 September 2004. It covered borrowings by Robert Horgan and David Horgan connected with the purchase of three properties in Mallow. Horgan accepted that he had given the guarantee; the central dispute was whether the bank later released him from it.
The case began by summary summons. After hearing the bank’s application for summary judgment in February 2013, the judge sent the matter to a plenary hearing. For his decision, he also considered evidence from witnesses who had testified during the earlier application.
Horgan and family witnesses said that Robert Horgan had obtained a short letter in November 2005, shown it to his father and later filed it at his office. The letter could not be produced. Robert Horgan said it was missing after he eventually regained access to company files following Ramada Construction Limited’s liquidation in February 2009. The bank denied that any release letter had been issued.
The judge rejected defence arguments about the account number written on the guarantee and the borrowers’ repayment of only €140,000 from each of two property sales. He found the guarantee’s protective clauses left no defence on those points.
On the alleged release, the judge said Theresa Murphy, the bank official whom William Horgan had contacted, had given a “cold call” and “out of the blue” account that did not present the full picture, because she had already reviewed case files. He expressed concern about that, but described her as a clear and careful witness and accepted her evidence that she had not released Horgan from the guarantee.
The judge also found that a release request, if processed, would have generated a substantial documentary trail, and concluded on the balance of probabilities that no release letter existed. He was unable to accept the Horgans’ evidence without documentary support. The judgment therefore granted the bank the judgment it sought; the source does not set out any further order.