The High Court has struck out Lawrence Shields’ judicial review challenge to the Central Bank of Ireland’s refusal to exchange 63 damaged euro notes, ruling that the proceedings had become moot after the Bank reversed its decision and transferred €4,950 to him.
The judgment, delivered electronically by Mr Justice Barr on 15 October 2020, records that Shields applied in February 2019 to exchange 51 €50 notes and 12 €200 notes. He said they had been in an envelope put into a fire. The Bank refused the exchange on 5 April 2019, saying its assessment found the notes had been intentionally damaged.
After further correspondence, the Bank said its initial examination found no evidence of fire damage and that the damage was consistent with chemical treatment. Shields’ solicitor later told the Bank that Shields’ partner had placed the notes with other items in a furnace at his workshop, where acetone was used in the production of fibreglass artworks, and that plastic containers may have damaged the notes.
Shields sought judicial review, including an order quashing the refusal and orders requiring the Bank to provide its analysis report, identify the independent laboratory and supply a sample of the notes for his own testing. He also sought declarations concerning fair procedures and property rights, and damages.
The Bank sent a sample for independent testing. In November 2019, it told Shields the results were inconclusive about the cause of the damage and did not meet the threshold for withholding the notes as intentionally damaged. It agreed to exchange them. The €4,950 transfer was made on 13 January 2020.
The Bank then applied to strike out the judicial review as moot. Shields argued that his claims about the process, information withheld and damages remained live. The judge accepted that Shields may have had grounds to complain about the Bank’s refusal to provide the initial analysis or a sample of the notes. But he held that those complaints were tied to the original refusal, which had been replaced by a decision in Shields’ favour. The court also found the case did not qualify for an exception allowing a moot case to continue, and that the damages claim did not keep the proceedings live. It did not decide whether the Central Bank Act’s damages immunity applied.
The court struck out the proceedings. Each side must bear its own costs of the main proceedings, while the Bank was awarded the costs of its successful strike-out application. The judge allowed the parties two weeks to make written submissions on the final order or a stay.