The High Court has awarded Darlington Properties Limited €4.06 million in damages after finding that Meath County Council negligently misrepresented that a planned distributor road could be built through land it sold in Ashbourne, Co Meath.
Mr Justice Kelly held that the road was central to Darlington’s decision to buy the site for €4.51 million in 2006. The council’s sales brochure and tender documents described the road as an objective of the development plan and said it would provide access to Ashbourne Town Centre. The draft contract also required the purchaser to provide it, with no financial contribution from the council.
But the council had granted planning permission for Phase 5 of the adjoining Ashbourne Town Centre development in June 2005. That permission made the road impossible to build. The court found the council ought to have known this when it marketed the land, and that Darlington relied on the representations in deciding to tender. The judge found no evidence or suggestion that they were made fraudulently.
Darlington first discovered in 2007 that construction on the adjoining site blocked the route. A detailed planning search commissioned on legal advice later revealed that the relevant permission predated the sale. The judge rejected the council’s criticisms of Darlington’s search and its efforts to limit its losses.
The company tried to secure planning permission for a proposal with 8% commercial and 92% residential use. Permission was refused in March 2008, and its appeal was unsuccessful in November. The court accepted that a further application meeting the development plan’s 30% commercial requirement was not a reasonable mitigation step, given Darlington’s view that commercial development without the road would not be viable.
The judge found that the council owed Darlington a duty of care and breached it through negligent misrepresentation. He did not decide whether rescission was available for a contract induced by negligent misrepresentation, saying it was unnecessary to resolve that issue in this case. Darlington sought no damages for lost business opportunity or profits.
Instead, damages were assessed by subtracting the land’s current value from the purchase price. The judge preferred Darlington’s valuer, who assessed the land at €450,000 by the trial, and awarded €4.06 million. The judgment does not state a separate costs order in the source excerpt.