The High Court proposed awarding Greenband Investments €640,000 in damages after finding that the Irish Coursing Club’s breach of contract put pressure on Greenband to buy an alternative site for access to its Showgrounds shopping centre in Clonmel.
In a judgment delivered on 9 March 2011, Mr Justice Clarke assessed losses arising from the delay in transferring a strip of land known as the ICC Road. An earlier judgment had found an enforceable contract for its sale to Greenband for €100,000 and ordered specific performance. The ICC had appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. For the damages hearing, it accepted that the court should proceed on the basis that the earlier ruling was correct.
The judge said the practical effect of the breach was that Greenband lacked the land between the date the sale should have completed and the terms of a stay pending appeal. Greenband said it needed access to meet planning requirements and its agreement with Marks & Spencer, the shopping centre’s anchor tenant. It bought the Barlo Radiators site for €4 million in 2008 as an alternative route.
The court found it probable, though not certain, that Greenband would have bought the Barlo site even if the ICC had completed the sale. The site could also improve access to Greenband’s Galloping Field lands. But the judge concluded that pressure to solve the Marks & Spencer access problem likely made Greenband less able to assess whether the purchase price was right. He awarded €500,000 for that pressure and a further €50,000 for related interest. He rejected a claim for stamp duty.
Greenband also claimed expenditure on plans for a possible shopping-centre extension onto the Greyhound Track, which is owned by Bord na gCon. The judge considered acquisition of that site too speculative to compensate the claimed works and fees, but awarded €50,000 for loss of opportunity arising from not having the ICC Road in time.
For professional fees associated with alternative access and services plans, Greenband had claimed nearly €88,000. The judge allowed €40,000, taking account of work that might have been done anyway and the likely mitigation of the professionals’ actual costs. He allowed no interest on those fees.
The damages judgment addressed the amount payable following the earlier contract ruling; it did not determine the pending appeal. Clarke proposed total damages of €640,000: €500,000, €50,000 interest, €50,000 for loss of opportunity and €40,000 in professional fees.