The High Court adjudicated Pat Lynch bankrupt on 10 May 2021, after accepting that €21,520.66 remained due to petitioning creditor Síle O’Beirne. In a judgment delivered on 25 May, Mr Justice Humphreys rejected the debtor’s objections to the petition and later refused a stay of the bankruptcy adjudication.
The judgment said Lynch, an executive employee of a fast food company, also operated a takeaway from the restaurant and kitchen of O’Beirne’s public house, the Merriman Tavern, on Main Street in Scarriff, Co Clare. O’Beirne had obtained two District Court judgments in March 2019 and a Circuit Court judgment in December 2019 to recover possession of the premises. The total judgment debt, costs and interest was €29,929.66.
The court recorded that Lynch had paid 18 instalments of €200, totalling €3,600, and that O’Beirne had allowed for a deposit of €4,809. It accepted her figures for the balance due. The judge said the statutory bankruptcy criteria were met on a prima facie basis.
Lynch argued that an arrangement to pay €200 weekly prevented the petition from proceeding. The judge said a solicitor’s December 2020 request for interim payments pending a statement of affairs was not a settlement or an agreement not to pursue the petition. The court also rejected his complaints that the demand had not been served and that service at his workplace, rather than his home, was inappropriate. Affidavits of service recorded delivery of the demand and bankruptcy summons at his employer’s address, and personal service of the petition and debt affidavit.
The judge rejected Lynch’s argument that the amount was below the €20,000 statutory threshold, accepting the creditor’s calculations. He also found that a personal insolvency process had not been shown to be more suitable, citing the debtor’s assets and his apparent ability to continue purchasing stock. The judgment records that Lynch said an application for a protective certificate was underway; the judge did not accept that process was more suitable in the circumstances.
The adjudication order included costs for O’Beirne. After Lynch applied for a stay, the judge granted the usual stay on the costs order but refused to stay the bankruptcy adjudication. He said an adjudication affects personal status and that staying it could prevent assets vesting in the Official Assignee, potentially prejudicing creditors.