The Court of Appeal has dismissed two appeals by Philip Morrissey against High Court orders arising from a settlement with Everyday Finance DAC and Allied Irish Banks (AIB). It also awarded the respondents one set of costs, referable to the first appeal.
The appeals concerned orders made by the High Court President on 14 April 2023 and his refusal on 12 May 2023 to review or set aside that judgment. The Court of Appeal found no basis to interfere with either decision.
The 14 April orders substituted Everyday Finance for AIB as plaintiff and gave effect to consent orders Morrissey had agreed to in a settlement agreement and consent letter signed on 31 January 2020. The Court of Appeal held that Morrissey was not entitled to withdraw that consent. It said he had not established a legal basis to do so, after signing the documents and having his counsel confirm consent to the proposed orders in court.
The orders included declarations that a 3 May 2011 facility letter created an equitable mortgage over specified Clonmelsh, Co Carlow properties, excluding Morrissey’s family home. The High Court also ordered that €24.97 million, together with costs and interest or another amount found due on inquiry, stood charged against his interest in specified lands. A court-appointed receiver was authorised to take possession of and sell the relevant property, subject to the exclusions in the orders.
The court stressed that the dispute over the validity and priority of a charge registered by Morrissey’s former solicitors, Malcomson Law, had been remitted to a plenary hearing. It made no determination on that dispute in these appeals.
Morrissey argued, among other things, that he had lacked fair representation, that the debt had been discharged or overpaid, that no equitable mortgage had been created, and that the receiver orders were unwarranted. The Court of Appeal said several matters were either unsupported, not properly before it, or attempts to challenge a 2015 consent judgment that had not been appealed. It also rejected his second appeal, finding that he had not met the high threshold for reopening a final judgment on grounds of constitutional justice.
The court ordered the respondents’ costs of both appeals, but directed that Morrissey be liable for only one set, referable to appeal 2023/169.