The High Court has dismissed a €2.88 million negligence claim arising from a 1986 transfer of property at Knocklyon Road, Templeogue, after finding that the proceedings were brought outside the legal time limit.
Task Construction Limited and Edward Gaffney sued solicitor William B. Devine over a deed executed on September 24, 1986. They alleged that Devine negligently prepared and executed a transfer of property at 4A Knocklyon Road for £6,000 when, they claimed, it was then worth £60,000.
The proceedings were not commenced until March 2007. The plaintiffs claimed compensation of €2.88 million, calculated as 90 per cent of what they said was the property’s €3.2 million value in December 2006.
To overcome the limitation problem, they also alleged that insufficient stamp duty had been paid on the 1986 deed and described this as fraud on the Revenue. They argued that this postponed the start of the limitation period under section 71 of the Statute of Limitations 1957.
Ms Justice Dunne rejected that argument. Section 71 can postpone a limitation period where an action is based on fraud by the defendant or where fraud conceals the plaintiff’s right to sue. The alleged stamp duty issue, however, was characterised by the plaintiffs as a fraud on the Revenue rather than a fraud causing them loss or concealing their claim.
The judge said she was far from satisfied that any such Revenue fraud had occurred. Even if it had, she held, it would not assist the plaintiffs and would be a matter for Revenue rather than them to pursue.
Edward Gaffney also argued that the cause of action did not arise until he first saw the deed in February 2006. Dunne J. held that the law did not apply a general "discoverability" test to this claim. Any negligence and resulting cause of action arose when the deed was executed in September 1986.
The court therefore held that the proceedings were statute barred.