The High Court has entered judgment for €5,205,175.90 in favour of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited (in special liquidation) in its claim against Gerard McCaughey over loans totalling €7,730,102.18. The court adjourned the balance of the claim to a plenary hearing, where McCaughey can pursue his defence that the loans were to run for the duration of the investments they financed.
Mr Justice Kelly delivered the judgment on 29 January 2014. The application was for summary judgment. McCaughey accepted that he had signed the facility letters and received the funds. The bank argued that the agreements were repayable on demand and that he had no defence.
McCaughey said that, for some facilities, the bank had agreed the loans would continue for the life of the relevant funds, despite the shorter terms in the written documents. The court considered his affidavit, an affidavit from former bank employee Jason Drennan, and internal bank credit committee documents. Applying the low threshold for summary judgment, the judge found a triable issue about whether a collateral agreement existed. The ruling did not decide that such an agreement had been made.
The asserted defence covered the first and second agreements, Facilities A and B of the third agreement, and part of the fourth. It did not cover Facility C of the third agreement, the Riverdeep part of the fourth, or the fifth agreement. The judge entered judgment on those undisputed parts, and on loans tied to funds that had closed. He also found that the claimed counterclaims were unsupported, statute barred, or concerned matters already decided in earlier proceedings, and refused to stay execution of the judgment.
The court entered judgment of €560,265.83 for Facility C and €112,000 plus accrued interest for Riverdeep, and €1,266,319.62 under the fifth agreement. It also entered €1,885,028.94 for the first agreement and Facility A relating to the Woolgate fund, €631,561.51 for the New York Hotel Fund, and €750,000 plus accrued interest for the M&A Fund. The remainder was adjourned to plenary hearing to allow the collateral agreement defence to be examined.