The High Court has dismissed John Morrissey’s counterclaim against Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited (in special liquidation), but has not yet set the amount the bank can recover on its loan claim. Two issues remain: Morrissey’s challenge to interest charged on the facilities and evidence of credits due for property realisations by a receiver.
In a supplemental judgment delivered on 12 November 2013, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan confirmed the declarations made in an earlier judgment: the bank was entitled to demand repayment in January 2010 under facilities granted in February 2009, and the relationship between the parties did not extend beyond a contract to create a fiduciary relationship.
The bank, formerly Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Ltd., had sought €36,787,674.38 plus interest when proceedings began in April 2011. An affidavit submitted in June 2013 put the amount claimed at €31,971,343.14, after credits and an interest adjustment. The bank also offered to reduce the claim by about €75,000 in disputed interest, without admitting liability. The judge did not enter judgment for either stated amount.
The judge found that Morrissey could still dispute the interest included in the claim on the specific ground pleaded: that the bank had applied an undisclosed margin above EURIBOR on the 2009 facility and earlier facilities. She said the court could not determine the amount due on the evidence then before it, and that the bank would also have to prove the amounts realised by the receiver and the credits due under the security documents.
The remaining allegations did not leave other issues for trial on the existing pleadings. The judge concluded that the claims concerning alleged breaches of trust or confidence, misrepresentation and deceit, negotiations involving TPG, and investments in shares depended on the alleged fiduciary relationship or did not plead an independent cause of action. The earlier ruling that no such relationship existed therefore disposed of those claims. The counterclaim was dismissed in full.
The judgment also records that Morrissey’s application to amend his defence and counterclaim to raise issues concerning the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Act 2013 and an EU directive on the reorganisation and winding up of credit institutions had been refused at the June hearing. The judge said no issue remained about the validity of the receiver’s appointment or the receiver’s steps to sell properties on the pleadings before her. She directed that she would hear counsel on the next steps before trial of the remaining amount dispute.