The High Court has dismissed a claim by Mullingar doctor Neil Healy that Ulster Bank had assured him he was free from a guarantee connected with a former property and medical-centre partnership.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern ruled on July 17, 2009, that Dr Healy had failed to prove that bank employee Alan Leech gave the assurances alleged at a meeting in Mullingar on August 1, 2007.
Dr Healy and medical colleague Dr Patrick Cullen had acquired property at Coole, County Westmeath, with plans to develop a medical centre and houses. After relations deteriorated, the partnership was dissolved in 2007, with Dr Cullen paying Dr Healy €2,213,607 and taking over the partnership's assets and liabilities.
Dr Healy lodged the proceeds with Ulster Bank. He claimed Mr Leech assured him that he had been discharged from a guarantee signed in August 2006 and had no further liability to the bank. The bank denied that such a representation was made.
In August 2008, Ulster Bank sought repayment of liabilities exceeding €2.2 million and set off US$993,983.03 held in Dr Healy's account against the outstanding partnership debt.
The court found that Dr Healy himself had understood that a formal release from the guarantee was required. His former solicitor, Patrick Groarke, denied telling him that he had no liability, and the judge accepted Mr Groarke's evidence.
McGovern J also found that Mr Leech lacked authority to release a guarantor without approval from the bank's credit department. Internal bank documents showed that Mr Leech later proposed releasing Dr Healy, but that proposal was not accepted.
The judge was sharply critical of Dr Healy's credibility, including his use of secretly recorded conversations with bank staff and admitted false statements concerning a proposed Florida property purchase. He preferred the evidence of the bank witnesses and rejected Dr Healy's account of the August 2007 meeting.
The claim was dismissed. The court left the precise form of the final order to be addressed after hearing counsel, having regard to an outstanding counterclaim.