Killilea not obliged to lodge funds to run case

A private company owned by the wife of property developer Sean Dunne will not have to lodge up to €600,000 for legal costs in…

A private company owned by the wife of property developer Sean Dunne will not have to lodge up to €600,000 for legal costs in advance of a High Court action, a judge has ruled.

Mavior has sued over an alleged outstanding bill of €1 million for repair works carried out by it on two flooded hotels in Dublin. The hotel owners claim Mavior may be insolvent and unable to pay the legal costs if its loses the action.

Gayle Killilea is a director of Mavior which is suing Zrko, a company set up by Ulster Bank to hold the legal and beneficial interest in the Ballsbridge Inns and Tower Hotels which were flooded in 2011.

Zrko had raised issues about Mavior’s solvency, but Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan ruled yesterday that Mavior was not obliged to provide security for legal costs before its case is heard. Mavior, an unlimited firm,was formerly a limited one called Mountbrook Homes. It was re-registered as unlimited before the work on the hotels which gave rise to the action. Another firm, MJBCH, part of a group controlled by Sean Dunne, had in 2011 run and managed the two hotels.

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Maviour claimed that after the flood damage it was agreed between Zrko and MJBCH that MJBCH would organise repairs. MJBCH entered into an agreement with Mavior to carry out the work. Zrko made three payments, but more than €1 million is outstanding, claims Mavior.

Zrko claims the works were substandard and no more money is owed.

While Mavior does not have to file public accounts, the last accounts of Mountbrook showed it had a loss of about €453,000, said Zrko.