The High Court has awarded Allied Irish Banks plc €194,454.97 against Sean Killeen and Jim Hudson, jointly and severally, under guarantees for a company overdraft.
Mr Justice Barr delivered the judgment on 22 October 2019. The ruling followed the bank’s appeal against an earlier order by the Master of the High Court striking out its summary summons. The appeal had been allowed in a previous ruling. The issue before Mr Justice Barr was whether the bank was entitled to judgment for the amount claimed.
AIB said it had provided Hudson Killeen Ltd with an overdraft facility of up to €200,000 for working capital. The defendants signed guarantees in February 2009 for the company’s indebtedness. After the company went into liquidation in 2014, the bank demanded €160,072.80 from the company and each guarantor in April 2015. It made further demands on the defendants in October 2016. The bank later sought €194,454.97 in court.
The defendants raised concerns about when the debt became due, the delay before proceedings were issued and the resulting interest, as well as differences in the stated interest rate and the amounts demanded. They also argued that the bank had not sufficiently explained its calculations and had not addressed the mortgage debenture over the company’s assets.
The judge found that the overdraft was repayable on demand and that the bank could demand payment from the guarantors under their agreements. He said the bank was not required to specify a separate date of default before making a valid demand. The defendants had not paid after the demands, and the delay before proceedings did not remove the bank’s entitlement to seek repayment or make the accruing interest a defence.
Mr Justice Barr accepted that the bank’s statements of account and affidavit sufficiently particularised the sum claimed. He found the 7.85% rate shown in the statements was consistent with the facility’s variable rate, despite the sanction letter referring to a then-current rate of 9.2%. He also found that the slightly higher figure in the October 2016 demand did not cause prejudice or invalidate the claim.
Applying the summary judgment test, the judge refused to remit the case to a plenary hearing and entered judgment for AIB for €194,454.97, jointly and severally against both defendants.