The High Court has dismissed Michael Butler and William Butler’s proceedings against the Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland and the Attorney General, ruling that the case was an abuse of process. Ms Justice Stack gave judgment on 4 May 2022.
The Butlers’ claim sought, among other reliefs, to set aside orders made in earlier litigation and challenge provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998. The dispute stemmed from conflicting copies of an order recording a 2008 settlement between the Butlers and Crohan O’Shea. One copy contained eight paragraphs and another nine, including a clause allowing judgment to be entered if the settlement sum was not paid by the deadline.
The judgment recounts that a 2018 High Court trial, ordered after a Supreme Court remittal, examined what had happened in court in Dundalk on 11 February 2008. The trial included evidence from the stenographer and the plaintiffs’ senior counsel, and the judge listened to the digital audio recording. Kelly P. found that the settlement was reached for €1.1 million and included the default clause. The Supreme Court dismissed the subsequent appeals in 2021.
Justice Stack said those findings prevented the plaintiffs from relitigating whether there had been a settlement or whether it included the default clause. She also said the earlier proceedings had fully investigated the discrepancies in the court record. The judgment describes the record situation as unsatisfactory and says a person or persons unknown had tampered with the file, but found that the irregularities did not undo the settlement or the earlier orders.
The court rejected the claims that the State’s handling of the Courts Service or the cited provisions of the 1998 Act gave the plaintiffs a basis for relief. It also said the earlier findings meant the plaintiffs had shown no loss supporting their damages claims. The court dismissed the proceedings because they sought to reopen issues already decided and constituted an abuse of process. The judgment does not set out a separate order on costs.