The High Court has ordered Brendan Gibbons to pay Sandra Keogh €25,840.46 after finding that the money Keogh advanced to him exceeded the value of his accepted advances to her by that amount.
In a judgment delivered on 14 June 2016, Mr Justice Max Barrett found that Keogh and Gibbons had contractual arrangements covering money advanced during their relationship, which lasted from 2004 to 2009. Keogh claimed she borrowed money and gave it to Gibbons, or for his benefit, to help him build a house in the Dublin Mountains. Gibbons denied that the advances created a legal obligation, arguing that Keogh was repaying money he had previously given her.
The court accepted that Keogh advanced money under an arrangement connected to the house’s construction. It also found that some expenditure by Gibbons on Keogh’s house, business and stolen business stock was made under contractual arrangements, as were the arrangements for two jeeps. The judgment described the jeep arrangement as allowing Keogh to use the vehicles while anticipating a financial reckoning at a later stage.
The court assessed Keogh’s accepted advances to Gibbons at €81,172.46. It assessed Gibbons’s accepted advances to Keogh at €55,332, including a lower valuation for Keogh’s exclusive use of the jeeps. The court did not accept all amounts claimed: it found no evidence that certain withdrawals had gone to Gibbons, and excluded claimed expenditure where it lacked adequate supporting evidence.
The judgment also rejected evidence from Keogh’s brother that Gibbons had acknowledged owing the better part of €200,000. The court found that Gibbons had not owed her that amount and considered the figure may have been confused with a proposed €200,000 credit arrangement discussed with a solicitor. That proposal did not proceed and, the court found, was never agreed.
The order was for the net difference between the accepted advances: €25,840.46 payable by Gibbons to Keogh. The judgment records that figure as the outcome of this summary claim; it does not order payment of the larger amounts discussed in evidence.