The High Court has ruled that claims against two architects and engineering firm WS Atkins Ireland Limited should be struck out because of inordinate and inexcusable delay in prosecuting the proceedings.
In a judgment delivered on 12 April 2024, Mr Justice Conleth Bradley considered separate applications by Stephen Oppermann and Colm Horan, practising as Oppermanns Associates, and by Atkins. The wider case concerns an alleged professional negligence claim arising from a construction project involving two factories and a link road on lands in Drogheda, Co Louth. The judge said he was not assessing the strength or weakness of the plaintiffs’ underlying case.
The judge found that inordinate and inexcusable delay had been established in both applications. For Oppermanns, he identified a total of 10 years and five months across the periods he considered, including a delay of six years and 11 months between delivery of their defence in November 2015 and their application in November 2022. For Atkins, he highlighted a delay of seven years and eight months between delivery of its defence in July 2015 and its application in March 2023.
In weighing the balance of justice, the judge accepted that the passage of time created trial prejudice. Witnesses had left the firms or died, memories could fade, and the building contractor had gone into liquidation. He also found that later inspections could have limited value because of wear and tear or subsequent works, and that the delay could affect the availability of documents and the ability to investigate the plaintiffs’ unquantified damages claim.
The claims against Oppermann and Horan included disputes about alleged changes to the project, occupation of the buildings, snagging and the respective responsibilities of the parties. The plaintiffs disputed some of the factual matters, which the judge said would require oral evidence. Atkins faced allegations that it failed to administer and supervise the works effectively and wrongly certified compliance with building regulations; these remained allegations, not findings on their merits.
The judge said he would exercise the court’s inherent jurisdiction to strike out the plaintiffs’ claims against Oppermann and Horan and against WS Atkins Ireland Limited. Those orders were stated to be subject to hearing the parties on consequential or ancillary matters and costs, at a hearing listed for 25 April 2024. The judgment does not state the outcome of that later hearing.