The High Court has awarded Ennis Property Finance Ltd €8,596,518.24 against Alan Hynes and Noreen Hynes, finding them jointly and severally liable for balances due on six commercial loan facilities. Ms Justice Costello also ordered continuing interest from 12 May 2016.
The judgment, delivered on 8 July 2016, followed a plenary hearing after the case began by summary summons. Ennis Property Finance sought the amount due as of 11 May 2016, plus interest. The loans were originally advanced by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Ltd and later transferred to Bank of Scotland plc. The court found the 2015 assignment to Ennis Property Finance valid and said the company was legally and beneficially entitled to the loans.
The first defendant did not attend the hearing. The second defendant represented herself and disputed liability on several grounds, including that she had not signed the fifth facility letter and that the bank had agreed not to pursue any shortfall after the properties were placed in receivership.
The judge rejected those arguments. She found the second defendant had signed the fifth facility and had acted over several years in a way consistent with being a borrower on it. The court also found no evidence establishing an agreement to limit recourse. A separate 2009 case against the first defendant concerned vehicle hire-purchase and tax loans, not the six facilities, and did not compromise this claim. The 2009 letter ending the defendants’ financial-advisory engagement did not alter their liabilities to the bank.
The defendants’ properties were sold through a receivership between February 2010 and June 2012. The judge was satisfied that the sales were properly conducted and the proceeds credited to the loan accounts. She also rejected challenges concerning valuations and rents, finding the second defendant had not supplied evidence to establish undervaluation, preventable loss of rent or an uncredited entitlement. The judgment records €2,887,415.06 in distributions credited against the debt.
The court accepted the plaintiff’s account evidence and found €8,596,518.24 due on 11 May 2016. Its order was judgment against both defendants for that sum, jointly and severally, with continuing interest from 12 May 2016.