The High Court has awarded Robbie Collins and Julie Ann Collins €3.07 million in damages, plus €175,621 in interest, after Gary Duffy and Joe Callan failed to complete a €6.3 million purchase of land in County Dublin.
The judgment, delivered by Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan on 26 June 2009, followed proceedings in which the plaintiffs initially sought specific performance of the sale contract, along with damages and other relief. At the end of the hearing, they chose to pursue damages instead. The judge said they could recover damages in lieu only if they had established an entitlement to an order for specific performance.
The parties signed the contract on 12 September 2007. The defendants paid a non-refundable deposit of €630,000. After an agreed six-week extension, completion was due on 12 September 2008. The defendants did not complete. Their solicitors later raised uncertainty about the western boundary of the land, where a stream runs along the site perimeter.
The defendants argued that the purchase depended on the first plaintiff or his associates buying two units in a separate development, that the plaintiffs had to serve a completion notice, and that the boundary uncertainty meant the plaintiffs were not ready and able to complete. The judge rejected those arguments. She found there was no agreement making the land purchase conditional on buying the two units, and that the written contract contained the full terms of the land sale. She also held that a completion notice was not required before the plaintiffs could bring proceedings for specific performance in the circumstances.
The court found the title map did not establish precisely where the western boundary lay in relation to the stream. However, under the contract, the plaintiffs were not required to define exact boundaries. The judge found they were ready, willing and able to complete, and that the admissible evidence did not prevent them from giving vacant possession. She concluded the plaintiffs would have been entitled to specific performance had they pursued it.
In assessing damages, the court took the unpaid balance of €5.67 million and deducted €2.6 million as the current value of the land retained by the plaintiffs. The judge noted uncertainty in the property market and evidence that there was no current market for the site or for individual house plots at the higher potential valuations advanced. She awarded interest at 8% on the net damages from the start of proceedings, 9 October 2008, to judgment.
The court entered judgment against the defendants jointly and severally for €3.07 million, plus €175,621 interest, a total of €3,245,621.