The High Court adjourned Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) DAC’s application to enforce a 2012 judgment, giving the company a further opportunity to explain the delay and support its case. Mr Justice Garrett Simons stressed that the adjournment did not mean Pepper Finance would ultimately succeed.
The judgment against Seamus (otherwise Shay) Sweeney was entered in the Central Office of the High Court on 12 September 2012, after he failed to enter an appearance. It was for €646,913.72. Pepper Finance’s motion, issued in April 2022, sought to replace ACC Bank plc as plaintiff and obtain leave to issue execution on the judgment.
The court heard the motion on 26 June 2023. Under the rules, leave is required to execute a judgment after six years. The judge said an applicant must explain the full period of delay and the court must consider any prejudice to the other party.
Pepper Finance’s initial explanation for the first six years referred to ACC Bank ceasing to provide banking services in 2014 and a subsequent change in the company’s status. The judge found those matters did not explain why judgments against existing or former customers had not been pursued. The papers also referred to transfers of the loan and judgment debt in 2018 and 2019 but did not explain a further three years before the motion was issued. A supplemental affidavit cited identity checks, time for engagement with Sweeney and pandemic restrictions, but left the earlier period unexplained.
The judge said the application could not succeed in its current form under the applicable legal test. Pepper Finance then sought an adjournment to file further evidence. The judge granted it, finding a short resumed hearing would cause little disruption and the additional delay, measured in weeks, would cause Sweeney no material prejudice. Sweeney would be able to reply. Refusing the adjournment, by contrast, would be fatal to Pepper Finance’s application as it stood.
The court also admitted an affidavit Sweeney had sworn on 15 June, days before the hearing and outside the time set by earlier directions. Pepper Finance may address the issues he raised about proof of the transfer of the judgment debt.
Pepper Finance was given until 14 July 2023 to file a further supplemental affidavit; Sweeney may reply by 28 July. The motion is to resume on 31 July at 11.30 am. Pepper Finance must pay the costs of the motion regardless of the eventual outcome. The judge made clear that the court had decided only to allow further evidence: Pepper Finance may still fail to prove the transfer of the debt or meet the test for leave to execute.