The High Court has sent Allied Irish Banks Plc’s loan recovery case against John Joseph Costello to a plenary hearing, declining to grant summary judgment because a related claim against the bank could affect the parties’ overall financial position.
In a judgment delivered on 3 May 2019, Mr Justice Max Barrett considered AIB’s claim for repayment of money it said was owed on two loan accounts. The loans were due for repayment on 16 March 2010 and 16 March 2011. AIB issued a summary summons on 25 March 2017, outside the six-year limitation period. It argued that a letter it received on 17 April 2015 restarted that period because it acknowledged the debt.
Costello argued that the letter was not signed as required by the Statute of Limitations 1957, because his name was typed at the end, and that it did not acknowledge any debt. The judge rejected both arguments. He found that Costello had typed, or authorised the typing of, his name to identify himself and approve the letter’s contents, making it a signature. The amounts claimed could also be calculated from loan statements provided to Costello.
The judge found that the letter acknowledged the debt. AIB had sent a pre-demand letter on 4 March 2015 and a follow-up email on 24 March. Costello’s reply explained why he could not pay the amounts sought but did not dispute the liability, the judgment said.
Costello also sought to pursue a claim arising from AIB’s alleged failure to release share certificates when he tried to sell shares in 2007. He alleged that the share market then collapsed, leaving him unable to clear his liabilities with the bank. The judgment did not determine whether AIB was liable for that alleged failure. It concluded that the issue was sufficiently connected to the parties’ ultimate financial position that the case was unsuitable for summary judgment and should proceed to a plenary hearing.