The High Court has substituted Deutsche Bank AG for Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited (In Special Liquidation) as plaintiff in a commercial claim against Gerard McCaughey over seven loan facilities. The order was made on a procedural application and does not decide whether the assignment of the loans was valid or effective.
The bank’s claim arose from credit agreements and facility letters. Part of the claim had already been disposed of; the remaining claim, for more than €2 million, had been remitted to a plenary hearing. Trial was fixed for 9 December 2014.
The application said the debts and related rights had been sold by IBRC to Deutsche Bank under a loan sale deed dated 28 March 2014, with transfer completed on 23 May 2014. The court was shown redacted copies of the sale and transfer deeds, a schedule linking the relevant accounts to the proceedings, and a 30 May 2014 letter notifying McCaughey that the facilities had been transferred.
McCaughey opposed substitution, arguing that extensive redactions to the documents were constitutionally impermissible and denied him equality of arms. The judge noted that no court order had authorised the redactions, but held that the question on this motion was limited: whether there was a prima facie basis to substitute the proposed plaintiff so the case could be adjudicated.
Justice Costello said the court was not deciding the assignment’s validity or effectiveness. She found that the evidence showed, on a prima facie basis, that IBRC had assigned the benefit and interest in the loans to Deutsche Bank and had given written notice. That was enough for the procedural order.
The judge rejected the argument that the redactions prevented substitution. She said the trial would be heard in public and the documents relied on would have to be proved in the ordinary way. Deutsche Bank will have to establish at trial that it is entitled to pursue the claim, including that there was a valid and effective assignment. McCaughey remains free to challenge the documents and raise any alleged defects as a defence.
The court therefore ordered Deutsche Bank AG substituted as plaintiff in place of IBRC.