SEPARATE BANKRUPTCY proceedings against developer Thomas McFeely and solicitor Brian O’Donnell and his wife were adjourned at the High Court yesterday.
Mr McFeely’s Coalport company built the Priory Hall apartments in Dublin, and the O’Donnells are being pursued by Bank of Ireland for €75 million in unpaid loans related mainly to property investments. Both claim their main centre of business activity is Britain where the bankruptcy laws are different to those in Ireland.
Yesterday Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said she hopes to be able to hear Mr McFeely’s case before the end of this month. Last month, a London court rescinded an order declaring Mr McFeely bankrupt there after it was found he failed to disclose Irish bankruptcy proceedings when he filed papers there.
Ms Justice Sandra Proudman, in the London High Court, ordered that the bankruptcy proceedings be re-heard in light of this.
One of Mr McFeely’s creditors, Theresa McGuinness, who brought the London application seeking to revoke that bankruptcy, yesterday asked the Dublin High Court to declare him bankrupt here.
Ms McGuinness started proceedings in December 2011 after Mr McFeely failed to pay a court award of over €100,000 made in 2009 against Coalport Ltd. She had been awarded damages against Coalport because a house she bought had structural defects.
Yesterday, Ms Justice Dunne was told the issue of whether Ireland or Britain is Mr McFeely’s centre of main interest will have to be dealt with before the petition for bankruptcy can proceed.
A solicitor acting for the London court-appointed trustee of bankruptcy asked that no order be made in Dublin until the issue is decided. They were concerned certain bankruptcy offences may have been committed in the UK by Mr McFeely, the solicitor said.
James Salafia SC, for Mr McFeely, said he had only just come into the matter and needed time to take instructions. His side would also like the issue of centre of main interest to be determined first.
Ms McGuinness said the judge in London said she had no problem with the Irish courts dealing with the issue. She was trying to protect Mr McFeely’s Irish creditors, she added.
A barrister for the Revenue Commissioners, another creditor of Mr McFeely, said they supported Ms McGuinness in seeking to have the matter heard in this jurisdiction. Ms Justice Dunne said she had no difficulty with this in broad terms, as the matter will be based on the same facts, irrespective of where it is heard.
She adjourned the case for three weeks to allow the parties to put their case on affidavit.
Ms Justice Dunne also adjourned a separate bankruptcy application by Mr O’Donnell and his wife, Mary Patricia O’Donnell.
The couple initiated bankruptcy proceedings in London in March, claiming their centre of main interest was the UK. Bank of Ireland opposed this and brought proceedings in Ireland seeking to have them declared bankrupt here.
Yesterday, barrister Bernard Dunleavy, for the bank, said the O’Donnells’ bankruptcy application in London is due to be dealt with during August and September. The issue of centre of main interest would also be dealt with then.
