The Court of Appeal has dismissed Eugene McCool’s appeal against the rejection of his professional misconduct complaint against solicitor Colin Monaghan, finding no evidence to support allegations that the solicitor deliberately misled people about a court hearing time.
The appeal concerned an Order 56A motion in litigation between McCool Controls and Engineering Ltd and Honeywell Control Systems Inc. McCool sought an adjournment so the dispute could be referred to an alternative dispute resolution process. The Court of Appeal said the underlying Honeywell litigation was not before it and expressed no view on that dispute.
The motion was adjourned several times in July 2012. On 30 July, it was put back to the following morning because the judge was unavailable. Confusion then arose over whether it was listed for 10.30am or 2pm on 31 July. The motion was heard at about 12.30pm, with senior counsel representing both sides. The judge refused to order the parties to engage in the process where one party did not wish to do so. No order for costs was made, and the judgment records that no appeal was taken against that ruling.
McCool alleged that Monaghan had given false information about the hearing time to prevent the motion from being heard. Monaghan denied telling the court that the time had been changed from 10.30am to 2pm. He said his office had contacted the Courts Service because the motion was absent from the Legal Diary and had been told it would not be dealt with until 2pm. The Court of Appeal noted that the accounts differed, but said there was no evidence that the confusion had prejudiced either side.
The Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal found no prima facie case of misconduct in 2015. The High Court dismissed McCool’s appeal from that decision in 2015. The Court of Appeal held that the High Court could not be faulted for upholding the Tribunal’s decision. It said a communications breakdown had occurred, but found no evidence that it had been deliberately orchestrated or that Monaghan had acted improperly. The appeal was dismissed.