The Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals by Joseph and Katherine Corcoran arising from their long-running dispute over a house and site at Glenair Manor in Delgany, County Wicklow.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens agreed with the court's conclusion that the appeals had no merit. He held that Promontoria Eagle Limited and receiver Ken Fennell were entitled to treat the contracts as terminated after the Corcorans refused to pay the outstanding balances and insisted on using an unrelated judgment as a credit instead.
The dispute dates to August 2005. Joseph Corcoran agreed with a development company to have a house built at 6 Glenair Manor for €1.35 million, while he and Katherine Corcoran separately agreed to buy the site from developer Alastair Jackson for €500,000. Deposits of €135,000 and €50,000 were paid.
Following earlier litigation, a 2009 settlement reduced the site price to €400,000 and the remaining building-contract balance to €955,000. In 2013, the High Court ordered specific performance after finding that the required building works had been completed.
The Corcorans later argued that they could set off a €1.05 million judgment originally obtained by McHenry Golf Limited against Jackson and associated companies against what they owed under the Glenair contracts. Mr Justice Owens rejected that argument, finding that the judgment was unrelated to their contractual payment obligations and had no value as a means of completing the transactions.
He also rejected arguments that Promontoria and Mr Fennell lacked the contractual standing or authority to terminate the agreements. The judge found that the parties' conduct had bound them to the contracts and prevented the Corcorans from simultaneously seeking to enforce those agreements while denying Promontoria's ability to rely on them.
The High Court decisions in favour of Promontoria and Mr Fennell therefore remain in place. The Court of Appeal made no ruling on whether the deposits paid under the original contracts should be returned.