The High Court has ordered company director Marc Godart to pay 80% of Lizet Peña-Herrera’s costs of an application concerning Green Label Short Lets Limited’s unpaid District Court judgment. The costs are to be taxed if the parties cannot agree.
In a judgment delivered on 11 July 2024, Mr Justice Cregan said the application’s primary aim was to have Godart examined about the company’s assets and liabilities. The court had ordered that examination in its earlier judgment, delivered on 13 May. After that order, the company arranged funds to pay Peña-Herrera the €15,433.50 award and €1,200 in District Court costs. The payment was made before the costs decision.
Peña-Herrera then sought to have Godart personally liable for her costs. The company opposed that application. Cregan said the company was not in a position to meet a costs order and found Godart was the moving force behind its defence. He inferred that Godart, or companies he controlled, funded the defence. The judge also found Godart acted in bad faith and with impropriety, including in relation to conflicting statements about ownership of the rented property.
The dispute arose from Peña-Herrera’s tenancy at premises on Vintage Court, Cork Street, Dublin. After she complained to Dublin City Council about health and safety issues, including overcrowding, the company served a termination notice. The Residential Tenancies Board later found the notice invalid and directed payment of €1,000. A second RTB adjudication, following her complaint about eviction, directed the company to pay €14,443.93. The company did not appeal either adjudication. A District Court judgment followed, but a sheriff’s attempt to enforce it returned “Nulla bona – no goods”.
The High Court had earlier granted inspection of the company’s books and records, belatedly on consent, and directed the examination of Godart on its own motion under the Companies Act. It rejected Peña-Herrera’s arguments that she could summon him as a creditor under section 671 or that an examination should be ordered under Order 42, rule 36. The costs judgment therefore did not make Godart liable for all her costs: Cregan said she had not succeeded on every argument and allocated 80% to him.