The Court of Appeal has dismissed three appeals by Joseph and Katherine Corcoran arising from a two-decade dispute over contracts to buy a site and build a house at 6 Glenair Manor in Delgany, Co Wicklow.
The contracts were signed in August 2005. The site price was €500,000 and the building contract was €1.35 million, with deposits totalling €185,000. Disputes over completion led to High Court proceedings, a 2009 settlement and, in 2013, an order for specific performance.
The financial crash complicated matters. Loans and securities connected with developer Alastair Jackson and Eassda Ireland Limited ultimately passed through NAMA to Promontoria Eagle Limited, which appointed Ken Fennell as receiver in 2015.
Fennell later sought to bring the contracts to an end, arguing that the Corcorans had failed to pay the sums required to complete. The Corcorans challenged his authority and argued that they could satisfy their obligations by setting off a separate €1.05 million judgment originally obtained by McHenry Golf Limited.
Mr Justice MacGrath, with Costello P and Owens J agreeing, upheld the High Court's rejection of those arguments.
The court held that the Corcorans lacked standing to challenge the validity of the mortgage and debenture because they were not parties to those instruments. They were entitled to require proof that Fennell had been appointed and could act, but the High Court had sufficient evidence to make that finding.
The proposed set-off also failed because the required mutuality was absent: the debts were not between the same parties in the same right.
The court further held that the Corcorans could not reopen the meaning of the 2013 specific-performance order. That order established practical completion, leaving them required to pay the outstanding sums. They had not shown readiness to do so.
Appeals concerning appointment of another receiver and a separate motion attacking Fennell's appointment were also dismissed. The court's preliminary view was that the respondents should receive their appeal costs.