Beauchamps were pleased to act for Dengrove DAC in the successful defence of claims brought in the Court of Appeal by certain borrowers to a loan facility that has been in default for over ten years.
In the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Murray confirmed that the High Court was correct in refusing an application for injunctive relief to restrict the powers of Receiver appointed over one of the last remaining commercial development sites on Dublin's Quays.
Facts
Following agreement between the parties one of the borrowers was provided with a six-month period to complete the sale of the property on the open market. The property was never brought to market and no sale was concluded within the agreed time period.
Dengrove DAC appointed a Receiver over the property to conduct a sale on the open market. Two borrowers disputed its entitlement to appoint a receiver and made an application for an injunction to restrict the Receiver from selling the property. The application of the borrowers was rejected in the High Court and the matter was appealed by the borrowers to the Court of Appeal.
Court of Appeal decision
In the Court of Appeal the decision of the High Court was upheld on a number of grounds including that the Plaintiff borrowers failed to show that a Receiver sale would be at an undervalue and that damages would not be a suitable remedy.
The Court of Appeal also rejected the Plaintiff borrowers' claim that a refusal to grant an injunction would infringe their property rights. The Court of Appeal noted that in commercial properties both a lender and borrower have property rights which must be considered and that there was no established reason that the borrowers' property rights should prevail over those of Dengrove DAC.
This decision will allow for the Receiver to proceed and will result in the sale of the last remaining commercial development site on Dublin's Quays.
For more information please contact Barry Cahir, Simon Murphy or your usual contact in Beauchamps.
About the author
Barry Cahir
About Barry
Barry is a seasoned insolvency expert and litigator who heads our market-leading insolvency & corporate restructuring team. More generally, he has significant Irish and cross border experience and is a highly regarded practitioner. He represents stakeholders and officeholders in a wide range of contentious and non-contentious insolvency and debt restructuring cases.
Barry has been a member of the Council of INSOL Europe since 2016 and in October 2020 was announced as its vice president.