The High Court has disallowed a claim for the official liquidator’s time and the time of two colleagues spent investigating a company, while finding that related legal costs were allowable in principle.
In a judgment delivered on 5 May 2005, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan considered the costs claimed in proceedings concerning Tipperary Fresh Foods Limited, which was in liquidation. The application was brought by William O’Riordan against three respondents: Joseph Coleman O’Connor, Joseph Peter O’Connor and Donal O’Connor.
Declarations restricting each respondent under section 150 of the Companies Act 1990 had already been made. On 18 March 2005, the judge had concluded that section 150(4B) applied to the application. The official liquidator then provided details of investigation costs, including remuneration claimed for time spent by the liquidator, a senior manager and a senior associate, as well as legal costs owed for advice and work by solicitors.
The respondents disputed the remuneration element. They argued that the liquidator’s and colleagues’ time did not count as “costs incurred by the applicant” within the meaning of section 150(4B). The same issue had arisen in separate proceedings concerning Mitek Holdings Limited, where submissions had already been heard and a decision reserved. The judge considered submissions from both sets of proceedings.
She concluded that section 150(4B) could not be interpreted to include the liquidator’s claimed remuneration for investigation time. The reasons were set out in a judgment delivered the same day in the Mitek proceedings, identified as [2002 No: 438 COS].
The court therefore disallowed the part of the claim relating to investigation time spent by the liquidator and his colleagues. It held that the claim for legal costs was allowable in principle; the judgment does not state a final amount for those costs.