The High Court granted solicitor Larry Burke summary judgment for €176,433.65 in unpaid legal fees owed by Maureen Lawless, and refused her request to have the bill assessed through taxation.
In a judgment delivered on 29 July 2016, Mr Justice Max Barrett said Lawless had engaged solicitors in 2010 over a dispute concerning the auction of lands. She maintained that although she was the highest bidder, the lands were not sold to her. Proceedings followed and eventually settled, with junior and senior counsel retained.
A fee note issued on or about 7 November 2011 set out fees totalling €176,433.65. The judge said this included about €120,000 in solicitors’ fees, almost €40,000 for senior counsel and €24,000 for junior counsel. Lawless had paid an initial €5,000 but nothing further.
The judgment recorded that Lawless, then in her mid-seventies, could not afford representation at the summary judgment application and feared her house might have to be sold to meet the debt. She had also brought separate negligence proceedings against her former solicitors. The judge said those proceedings did not provide a defence to the fee claim before him. Applying the test for summary judgment, he found she had no defence, including no arguable defence, to liability for the fees.
The remaining question was whether special circumstances justified referring the bill for taxation and entering judgment only for whatever amount was found due. Lawless relied on a letter dated 28 November 2011 in which her solicitor had said he would proceed to taxation if she continued not to pay. The judge held that the letter was not a binding commitment to seek taxation before going to court, and did not amount to special circumstances.
The court therefore granted summary judgment for the amount sought and declined to refer the bill for taxation. The judgment noted the judge’s concerns about the scale of legal fees, but those observations did not alter the orders made.