The High Court has deferred a civil action brought by members of the Quinn family against Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) and Kieran Wallace until after the criminal trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive Sean Fitzpatrick has concluded.
In a ruling on 23 October 2015, Mr Justice Haughton found a real risk that starting the civil case in January 2016 could prejudice a fair trial for Fitzpatrick, whose criminal trial was listed to begin on 26 May 2016. He also found a real risk to the fairness of the separate “Back to Back Trial”, then scheduled for January 2016. The court said ordinary safeguards in a criminal trial would not sufficiently reduce the risks, and that effective reporting restrictions in the civil case would be impracticable.
The plaintiffs’ case concerns guarantees and share pledges they seek to challenge. Their pleaded claims include undue influence, breach of a duty to advise, unconscionable bargain and intentional infliction of economic harm. The judge said the plaintiffs intended to rely on allegations about Anglo’s financial position and transactions that overlapped with matters in the criminal proceedings. Those remain allegations in the civil case; the ruling did not determine their merits.
IBRC had sought to bring the civil trial forward after Fitzpatrick’s criminal trial was postponed. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sought a further deferral. The plaintiffs were essentially neutral about the applications but opposed reporting restrictions and said they wanted the civil case heard publicly. The second defendant adopted IBRC’s position; the third parties made no submissions.
The judge considered that the civil case could run for several months and might overlap with the Back to Back Trial. He also cited the possibility of overlapping evidence, including testimony from Fitzpatrick, named as a witness in the civil action, and the potential for evidence concerning the “Anglo Tapes” to circulate more widely. He concluded that restrictions on the civil hearing would not adequately address those concerns.
The court ordered that the civil trial be deferred until after Fitzpatrick’s trial. It did not set a new trial date. The judge said he was inclined to adjourn the case without a fixed date and have it mentioned in late July or early October 2016, but indicated that he would hear further submissions from counsel. The ruling therefore settled the immediate scheduling applications, not the underlying civil claims.