The High Court has dismissed proceedings brought by Ryans Bakery Wexford Limited against two financial services companies, finding that an eight-year delay in filing a statement of claim was inordinate and inexcusable.
Ms Justice Bolger delivered the judgment on 27 April 2022. The case concerned two geared tracker bonds the bakery bought in June 2006. It claimed the investments performed badly and that it lost virtually all the money invested. Its 2012 plenary summons alleged negligence, misrepresentation, misstatement and breaches of contract and duty.
The defendants applied to dismiss the proceedings for want of prosecution. The bakery issued its summons close to the six-year limitation period, but did not deliver a statement of claim until April 2021, after the defendants’ motion had been issued in July 2020. The court assessed the delay from the 2012 issue of proceedings to the motion in July 2020.
The bakery attributed much of the delay to its former solicitors and difficulties securing an expert. The judge found the delay before around November 2018 was due to those solicitors, and the delay from then until July 2020 was due to the plaintiff. She held that delay caused by the former solicitors was imputed to the plaintiff when deciding whether it was excusable. She also found an expert report was not needed to draft the statement of claim and that the proposed test-case approach did not excuse the delay.
In considering the balance of justice, the judge accepted that dismissal would deny the bakery the chance to pursue its claim. But the pleadings did not identify who had allegedly given the advice or what documents supported the allegations, and the case was likely to require oral evidence about events dating to 2006. She found a specific risk that witnesses’ memories would be impaired and that the proceedings remained well short of being ready for trial.
The court allowed the defendants’ application and dismissed the proceedings on grounds of delay. Justice Bolger’s indicative view was that the defendants were entitled to their costs of both the motion and the proceedings. She said any submissions on costs or the form of final order would be heard on 18 May.