The Court of Appeal dismissed Elaine Heffernan’s appeals against summary judgments in two sets of loan proceedings, but reduced the amount payable in one case after the lenders waived €14,953.70 in surcharge and compound interest.
In a judgment delivered on 31 March 2023, Mr Justice Woulfe said the court had sought further information about surcharge interest after its December 2022 decision dismissing both appeals and affirming the High Court judgments.
An affidavit from Allied Irish Banks employee Danny Ryan initially said interest had been charged on one of two accounts in the proceedings brought by Allied Irish Banks PLC and Everyday Finance DAC. The court found that this appeared inconsistent with account statements already filed and directed the lenders to clarify. In a further affidavit, Ryan confirmed interest had been charged on both accounts: €1,466.84, including compound interest, on an overdraft facility and €13,486.86 on a loan facility.
Ryan said the co-respondent had agreed to waive the combined €14,953.70 from the judgment sum. The High Court amount of €242,292.98 was therefore reduced to €227,339.28.
He also confirmed that no surcharge interest was charged on the three accounts in the separate proceedings brought by AIB Mortgage Bank and Everyday Finance DAC. The court accepted those statements and left the High Court judgment in that case unchanged.
Heffernan challenged the admissibility of Ryan’s affidavits, arguing that the deponent should have come from AIB’s corporate banking division and questioning how he could be employed by AIB Mortgage Bank when its 2021 financial statements recorded no employees at year-end. The court rejected the challenge. It said no specific EU law requirement had been identified and that the 2021 figures did not directly contradict Ryan’s statement about his employment when he swore the affidavits in early 2023.
On costs, the court ordered Heffernan to pay 85% of the first-named respondent’s costs in the appeal and High Court in the second case, reflecting the reduction in the judgment sum. For the first appeal, the first-named respondent was entitled to costs, but Heffernan was awarded the costs of four appearances—on 25 January, 15 February, 1 March and 8 March 2023—against that respondent. The court attributed the adjournments on 15 February and 1 March to late service of an affidavit and an inadvertent diary error, respectively.