Seán Dunne seeks to have his US bankruptcy process dismissed

Lawyers for Gayle Killilea Dunne, wife of property developer Seán Dunne, are asking that discovery motions against her in the US be put on hold pending a ruling on Mr Dunne's dramatic request that his bankruptcy application there be dismissed.

Two lawyers acting, respectively, for Mr and Mrs Dunne made applications to the Connecticut bankruptcy court on Wednesday.

Mr Dunne, through his lawyer James Berman, asked that the bankruptcy application he made in March of last year be dismissed. The application from the Co Carlow developer, who is seeking to get free of bank debt of approximately $1 billion, will come before the US court on September 16th next.

Mr Berman said the Irish businessman did not have the resources to continue to pursue the complicated legal proceedings he is engaged in, in the US, and that even if he was successful, his creditors might continue to pursue him through the Irish courts.

Mr Dunne was declared a bankrupt under Irish law last year on the application of Ulster Bank.

His lawyer told the US court on Wednesday that Mr Dunne wants the US bankruptcy case dismissed and that this will save all the parties “needless expense as they will no longer need counsel in two countries addressing the same issues which are primarily, if not exclusively, controlled by Irish law”.

On the same day that Mr Berman submitted the unexpected application on behalf of Mr Dunne, Peter Nolin, a lawyer with a different law firm acting for Ms Dunne, submitted a document to the court saying efforts to resolve a dispute over the extent of discovery orders against Ms Dunne had not been successful and the sides were now suggesting the appointment of a third-party neutral.

Ms Dunne is resisting an application from the National Asset Management Agency that it be allowed sight of all documents relating to the financial affairs of Ms Dunne, and a company she is associated with called Mountbrook, and not just documents concerning her dealings with her husband.

Nama is insisting it should have access to all documents as it believes Mr Dunne is seeking to hide assets from it and that he transferred considerable assets to her in the 2005 to 2008 period and that her business interests since then are in fact the business interests of her husband, something she denies.

Yesterday Mr Nolin told The Irish Times he was not aware of the application Mr Dunne was making until after he had submitted his document on behalf of Ms Dunne concerning the intention to seek to have a neutral party appointed. He said he is seeking to contact Nama to seek an agreement that the discovery issue will be put on hold pending the ruling on Mr Dunne's submission.

Mr Dunne has rejected allegations from Nama to the US court he had not disclosed all the data he was obliged to about his financial affairs when seeking his US bankruptcy.