The Court of Appeal has ordered Ulster Bank Ireland Limited to pay Neil Healy US$800,073.08, plus Courts Act interest from 14 June 2014, after finding that the Bank had unlawfully retained his deposit funds in connection with disputed Coole property debts.
In a further judgment delivered on 23 March 2022, Ms Justice Faherty set out the orders following the court’s principal judgment of 27 November 2020. The court declared that Dr Healy was discharged from all liability for the Coole indebtedness and that the Bank, Promontoria (Aran) Limited and their successors in title were permanently estopped from pursuing specified loan and overdraft sums claimed in Promontoria’s counterclaim.
The court also ordered the Bank to pay Dr Healy US$800,073.08. That figure was calculated from the US$1,012,814.79 balance in his dollar account in August 2010, after deductions for his personal overdraft balance as of 15 August 2008 and a further amount he had the benefit of using. The court found the funds had earned daily interest until August 2010, but were then moved into a non-interest-bearing account.
The Bank had argued that repayment should account for Dr Healy’s personal borrowings and proposed additional interest calculated using dollar LIBOR rates. The court accepted deductions for specified personal liabilities but rejected the Bank’s proposed interest method. It decided that Courts Act interest was appropriate, while setting 14 June 2014 as the start date. On that date, the Bank applied the euro balance against Dr Healy’s personal overdraft and a costs account from the first High Court trial.
On costs, the court awarded Dr Healy all costs of the action, including the claim, counterclaim and reserved costs of the first trial. It awarded him 90% of his appeal costs, deducting 10% because it found he had unreasonably pursued the issue of the transfer of the Coole loans to Promontoria on appeal. Costs are to be adjudicated if the parties cannot agree.
The orders followed a long procedural history. The first High Court trial dismissed Dr Healy’s claim and awarded Promontoria €1,693,014.87 on its counterclaim. The Supreme Court later overturned that decision and ordered a retrial. After the retrial, the High Court again dismissed Dr Healy’s proceedings and awarded Promontoria €1,634,132.16. In the principal appeal judgment, the Court of Appeal found for Dr Healy on the estoppel issue, though not on his contract or loan-transfer arguments. The present judgment finalised the resulting payment, interest and costs orders.