The High Court has dismissed a professional negligence action brought by Eamonn Kirby against the solicitors who represented him in the settlement of earlier Circuit Court litigation.
Mr Kirby sued Giles J. Kennedy and Company Solicitors over a compromise reached on October 31st, 1996 in proceedings brought against him by another firm, Dermot G. O’Donovan and Company. Those proceedings concerned allegations including picketing, intimidation and publication of defamatory material, while Mr Kirby had counterclaimed alleging professional negligence in earlier litigation involving Trustee Savings Bank.
Mr Kirby claimed that during the 1996 hearing damaging evidence was given suggesting he was responsible for death threats and that a Garda file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. He alleged that his own lawyers failed to challenge that evidence and instead pressured him into settling.
Mr Justice Herbert first held that all of Mr Kirby’s claims were out of time. The alleged breaches occurred on October 31st, 1996, while the plenary summons was not issued until October 31st, 2002. The court also found that any personal injury claim arising from stress or depression was statute barred because Mr Kirby knew of the alleged injury by June 1999 at the latest.
Although that finding disposed of the action, the judge went on to consider the merits because professional negligence had been alleged and the case had been fully contested.
Evidence from solicitors, counsel, a court reporter and others contradicted Mr Kirby’s account. A transcript of the 1996 hearing also contained no record of the alleged statements about a DPP file or of Mr O’Donovan identifying Mr Kirby as the person responsible for the threats.
The court found that Mr Kirby had received proper and careful advice, that the settlement terms were explained to him and that he was not coerced into accepting them.
Mr Justice Herbert concluded that the claim was entirely against the weight of the evidence and dismissed it as baseless and without merit.