By Eoin Marsh
The Court of Appeal has ordered Philip Morrissey to bear most of Everyday Finance DAC's costs of an appeal after finding that he rejected an early settlement offer which would have given him at least as much as he ultimately achieved.
Morrissey had appealed a High Court order requiring him to pay Everyday's costs of an application enforcing a January 2020 settlement agreement. That enforcement application had also involved Malcomson Law Solicitors.
In July 2025, the Court of Appeal partly allowed Morrissey's appeal. It varied the High Court order so that he remained liable for Everyday's costs of dealing with issues concerning him, but not for its costs of addressing issues raised by Malcomson Law.
The costs question was complicated by an offer Everyday had made on April 10th, 2025, about a week after Morrissey lodged his appeal. Everyday offered to have the High Court costs order vacated and the appeal struck out with no further order. Apart from Morrissey's then-limited expenses, the Court of Appeal said this amounted to everything, or more, than he had sought.
Morrissey rejected the offer and continued the appeal. The court said this caused additional expense and consumed court time, while the final outcome was less favourable than the proposal he had declined.
Mr Justice Allen said settlement offers must have meaningful costs consequences if they are to encourage parties to resolve litigation and conserve court resources.
The court ordered that Morrissey recover his outlay and expenses up to and including the first directions hearing. Everyday will recover its legal costs from that point onwards. The two liabilities are to be set off against each other, with the remaining balance then payable.
Morrissey's appeal concerning Malcomson Law was dismissed, but the firm did not seek its appeal costs. The ruling does not reopen Morrissey's underlying disputes with Everyday, AIB, receivers or Malcomson Law, which the court said had either been settled or were outside the appeal.