The High Court has dismissed a professional negligence case brought by businessman Thomas Doran against his former solicitors over a €3 million land purchase after more than five years and eight months of complete inactivity in the proceedings.
Mr Doran retained John J. Quinn & Co. Solicitors in 2007 for the purchase of 28.98 hectares. He agreed to buy the property for €3 million and obtained a €2.6 million AIB loan, intending to repay it from development proceeds. He later discovered, according to the judgment, that the property was landlocked and unsuitable for development.
He issued negligence and breach-of-duty proceedings against John J. Quinn and Pauline Brady in May 2013. The defendants applied in July 2025 to have the case dismissed for delay and want of prosecution.
Ms Justice Nessa Cahill found that the last procedural step by Mr Doran had been his replies to further particulars on 13 November 2019. Nothing further was done before the strike-out motion was issued on 17 July 2025.
Under the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Kirwan v. Connors, more than five years of cumulative inactivity places a case in the most serious category. At that point, the plaintiff must show an exceptional circumstance or pressing requirement of justice to justify allowing the proceedings to continue.
Mr Doran argued that the case was linked to separate AIB litigation arising from the same conveyance and that he had been advised to await its outcome. The court found, however, that there was no evidence the defendants had agreed to any standstill or had even been told the case was being parked.
The judge also rejected reliance on Mr Doran’s dealings with his own solicitors, his complaints about them, the Covid period and the need for expert evidence as sufficient explanations.
The proceedings were dismissed for delay. The court provisionally indicated that the defendants should receive the costs of the dismissal motion, with final orders reserved for 19 October 2026.