The High Court awarded €97,417 to public-house owner Gabriel Gilmore in a supplemental judgment on consequential losses arising from damage to his property in Mountbellew, Co. Galway. The court allowed €93,600 for lost rent, €1,000 for travel and €2,817 towards drilling costs.
The supplemental judgment followed an earlier assessment in proceedings where the defendants had accepted liability. In November 2010, the court awarded Gilmore €75,055 for direct and indirect remedial and reinstatement costs, leaving consequential losses for later assessment. Patrick Geraghty, the other plaintiff, had been awarded €102,780, with lost rent to be determined on satisfactory evidence.
Gilmore told the court that his tenant, who operated Higgins public house, remained in the premises until his lease ended in September 2004. He said he did not seek a replacement tenant after that, citing legal advice, and claimed rent losses, among other expenses. The court found that the defendants could not reasonably have foreseen that he would allow the pub licence to lapse and wait more than five years before trying to renew it. It rejected his claims for the value of the licence and for goodwill, which the court noted belonged to the former tenant.
The court set the recoverable rent loss at €300 a week for six years after 2004. It took account of Gilmore’s decision not to seek a replacement tenant, the earlier tenant’s continued trading after the damage, and evidence of pre-existing damage affecting the property. The court found the claimed €600 weekly rent was not justified. It also rejected rent claimed for the adjoining house, noting there had been no tenant there before the damage and no definite offers or effort to market it.
Other claims were also limited or refused. The court allowed €1,000 for Gilmore’s travel, finding the claimed mileage figure inadequately explained and the purpose of frequent visits unclear. It made no award for his brother’s travel expenses. It allowed €2,817 for Gilmore’s half of an Irish Drilling invoice, accepting evidence that the bill had been paid. The court rejected alternative accommodation and insurance claims, among others.
For Geraghty, the court said it would not reopen claims already dealt with in its earlier judgment, including removal and storage costs that had been included in the reinstatement assessment. It fixed his previously reserved lost-rent claim at €26,000, finding that sum appropriate on the evidence.