The High Court has ordered The Limerick Private Limited to provide €1,790,500 in security for the Voluntary Health Insurance Board’s (VHI) estimated costs of defending the case from the date of the order through trial. The order followed VHI’s application under section 52 of the Companies Act 2014.
Mr Justice Max Barrett said the sum was not full security for all costs, but covered VHI’s estimated costs from that point onwards. He said this was the fairest way to minimise the risk of injustice if the proceedings continued. The court also proposed a stay of proceedings until security is provided and gave VHI liberty to apply to dismiss the case if the company does not comply. Those orders were proposed in the judgment. The judge gave a provisional view that VHI should receive the costs of the security application, subject to further argument.
The proceedings were brought in 2015 by Shay Sweeney and The Limerick Private Limited. They allege, among other things, that VHI abused a dominant position by refusing cover for a proposed private hospital and that a “substitution” requirement breached competition law. They also seek damages for interference with their constitutional right to earn a livelihood. VHI denies the claims. The judgment concerns security for costs, not the trial or final determination of those allegations.
VHI argued that it had a bona fide defence and that the company would be unable to pay its costs if VHI succeeded. The plaintiffs did not contest those points, but opposed security on the grounds that VHI’s alleged wrongdoing caused the company’s financial position and that VHI had delayed in bringing its application.
The judge rejected both grounds on the evidence before him. He found no significant prejudice to the plaintiffs from the delay and said any such prejudice was outweighed by the risk to VHI of being unable to recover costs. He also found the company had not established that VHI’s alleged conduct caused its inability to meet a costs order. Among the matters he cited were the absence of evidence of committed project funding and unresolved conditions on a 2007 AIB loan proposal. He noted that the claimed losses had not been verified by affidavit.
The judgment records that VHI’s estimated costs from that point through trial were €1,790,500, excluding VAT. It does not decide whether VHI’s conduct was wrongful in the underlying case. The plaintiffs’ claims remain to be determined.