The Court of Appeal has upheld the Legal Aid Board’s decision to end legal aid for Christopher Prendergast’s proposed litigation arising from a fire which destroyed his family company’s knitwear factory in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, in 1986.
Prendergast, a retired engineer, has maintained for decades that a 1988 High Court judgment concerning compensation for the fire effectively implicated him and his father in arson. He sought legal aid in 2019 to pursue litigation aimed at challenging that judgment and the evidence of a fire expert who had testified in the original proceedings.
The Legal Aid Board initially granted a certificate in May 2021 so legal advice could be obtained. After counsel reviewed the proposed case, the Board decided in 2023 to terminate the certificate. It concluded that there was insufficient evidence to plead fraud or perjury, that the proposed case had limited prospects of success and that serious issues of delay, witness immunity, res judicata and potential costs arose.
Prendergast unsuccessfully challenged that decision in the High Court and appealed.
Ms Justice Máire Whelan, delivering the Court of Appeal judgment, rejected his central argument that the 1988 proceedings amounted in substance to a criminal trial against him. The original case was a civil compensation claim brought by W.J. Prendergast & Son Ltd against Carlow County Council. Prendergast himself was a witness, not a party, and no criminal finding or penalty was imposed on him.
The court also rejected his contention that EU and ECHR law meant legal aid could be withdrawn only from a case that was “manifestly unfounded” or “manifestly inadmissible”. The statutory scheme permits the Board to consider whether proceedings have reasonable grounds and reasonable prospects of success.
The court found the Board had adequately explained its reasons through its April and May 2023 correspondence.
All grounds of appeal were dismissed. The Board was provisionally entitled to its appeal costs, subject to any written submissions from Prendergast.