By Maeve Rowan
The Supreme Court has dismissed Liam Lawlor's claim that he was excluded from a proposed property development venture involving land known as the "Guinness lands" in West County Dublin.
Lawlor claimed he had entered what he described as a joint venture partnership agreement with the defendants and Peter Dwyer. Under the alleged arrangement, a company was to acquire and develop the lands, with 40% interests for the defendants, 40% for Dwyer and 20% for Lawlor.
According to Lawlor's pleaded case, the project was to proceed automatically if the land could be bought for £8 million. If the price exceeded that figure, the parties were not obliged to proceed. However, if they nevertheless decided to acquire the lands, Lawlor claimed the company would still be formed using the agreed ownership proportions.
The lands were subsequently acquired for £19 million. Lawlor alleged that, contrary to the arrangement he relied upon, he was not given an opportunity to participate in their further development.
The defendants asked the courts to strike out the case before trial. Chief Justice Keane noted that this inherent power should be used sparingly and only where, even assuming the plaintiff could prove all of the facts pleaded, the claim would inevitably fail.
The Supreme Court found that threshold was met here. The alleged agreement left important matters unresolved. There was no agreement on how the project would be financed, while the details of the proposed development were also left for future agreement.
Keane CJ said that, even making every assumption in Lawlor's favour, the parties had remained at the negotiation stage. None could have compelled the others to proceed without agreement on financing and the form of development.
The Supreme Court therefore allowed the defendants' appeal and replaced the High Court order with an order dismissing Lawlor's claim.