A woman, who claimed she had been misled by a financial adviser into investing more than €36,000 in a UK company that collapsed, has been awarded just over €50,000 against Dublin finance consultant Robert Farrell.
Judge Cormac Quinn said on Tuesday he accepted Leah Murray’s evidence that Mr Farrell had persuaded her to invest the money on the basis of a quick six-month profit of 20 per cent on an inheritance she obtained from the sale of her late mother’s home.
Ms Murray, a talent acquisition executive, of The Poplars, Grattan Wood, Donaghmede, Dublin 13, told her barrister Barry Browne she had met Mr Farrell in his home at 24 Vernon Rise, Clontarf, Dublin 3, in 2011 after he had become aware she had inherited money.
Mr Browne, who appeared with O’Hare O’Dwyer Solicitors, told the Circuit Civil Court that Mr Farrell had told her he had an arrangement with a UK-based company, OSS Plc, whereby he could procure shares in the company. The company would then guarantee to buy back the shares after six months together with a £6,000 Sterling return on the investment.
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Ms Farrell said she realised afterwards such a transaction could not legally happen but at the time she had given him a bank draft which he said he had to lodge in his personal bank account to forward to a broker with money from other investors. She had never seen her money again as the company had collapsed.
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When Ms Murray was cross-examined by Mr Farrell, who legally represented himself, she said: “I had never bought shares in anything before or since. It is something that I regret every day. I was ill-advised and I took your word for it in your home that my money would be returned without any risk.”
She told Mr Farrell she had asked him if there was any risk and he had replied: “None at all.” She told him she never had any knowledge of share dealings and she had trusted him.
Mr Farrell denied he had misled Murray and said he had never held himself out as a broker. The broker he had dealt with in the UK had developed motor neuron disease afterward and had since died. It had been a couple of years before he had found out about his death.
Judge Quinn said he accepted the evidence of Ms Murray and her stepfather, Frank Murray, who had been a social drinking friend of Mr Farrell and who had introduced him to his daughter after telling him she had come into an inheritance.
He said the court was satisfied Mr Farrell had made the representations to Ms Murray and her stepfather as they had described to the court.
“I am satisfied the defendant, who describes himself as a financial consultant, held himself out as a business adviser,” Judge Quinn said.
He ordered judgment against Farrell in the sum of €44,000 together with an award of €6,000 in relation to damages for breach of contract, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, bringing the total award to €50,000, together with costs.
