The High Court ruled that a default judgment against a woman over a €73,433.45 legal bill could be set aside only if she lodged €36,716.77 in court and undertook not to dispose of her property while the proceedings were determined.
Ms Justice Faherty said the defendant had shown a real prospect of establishing a claim for a set-off against Gill Traynor Solicitors. The possible claim concerned costs she might incur clarifying or correcting an alleged jurisdictional error in earlier family law proceedings. The court did not decide that the solicitors had been negligent or that the alleged error existed.
The firm had obtained judgment in default of appearance on 16 April 2015. The defendant applied under Order 27, rule 14 of the Rules of the Superior Courts to have it set aside. She said she had not been served with the summary summons and disputed the amount claimed. She also argued that family law proceedings had been brought in the wrong county and circuit, potentially requiring further proceedings.
The judge found the defendant had been personally served with the summons in October 2013 and treated the judgment as regular. She relied in part on the process server’s affidavits and the defendant’s December 2014 email discussing the debt without raising service. The court also noted that the defendant’s solicitors did not raise non-service during more than a year of correspondence after the sheriff’s visit in 2015.
The court rejected the defendant’s claim that the bill’s amount came as a surprise. It noted that she had received interim fee notes over several years and had not sought taxation of the costs. The judge also found that denying the claim in full was inconsistent with earlier proposals to settle the legal debt, though the defendant had at times disputed the amount owed.
On the jurisdiction issue, the judge said it was too much to say the earlier family law proceedings would have to be relitigated in full. She considered it reasonably conceivable that the defendant could argue she had been entitled to rely on her solicitors to ensure the separation proceedings were in the correct jurisdiction. The possible defence was limited to a set-off for the cost of clarifying or rectifying that issue.
The court required the defendant to lodge half the amount claimed, €36,716.77, before the default judgment could be set aside. She must also undertake not to dispose of or contract to dispose of her property while the proceedings are pending, or for ten weeks after any judgment against her. The judge said strict time limits, including for delivery of a defence and counterclaim, would apply and that she would hear further submissions on those terms. The ruling did not finally determine the fee claim or the proposed counterclaim.