50-year Bula litigation brings Charles Dickens’ novel to mind, judge says

The 50-year "legal travails" of Michael Wymes, a co-founder of the collapsed Bula mines, and of Bula itself, bring to mind lengthy real-life litigation which inspired a novel by Charles Dickens, a High Court judge has observed.

Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said, over the half century of litigation, “there are just too many Bula and Wymes cases and judgments to list”.

Bula was “cradled in litigation” as the first piece of the “innumerable” pieces of Bula related litigation was initiated before the end of 1971, the year it was formed, the judge noted.

A search of the High Court website shows Mr Wymes is a party in 45 sets of proceedings, a plaintiff in 22 and a defendant in 23, he said.

This “well out classes” the “mere” 17 sets of proceedings which ran from 1810 to 1933 in the English courts concerning the estate of William Jennens, who died in 1798. The Jennens’ case was the inspiration for the fictional case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce in Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House, the judge noted.

He made the comments in a recent judgment on issues arising from a motion seeking to extend Mr Wymes’ bankruptcy.

Mr Wymes was adjudicated bankrupt in March 2018 on the petition of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on foot of a legal costs debt of €4.8 million arising from the extensive litigation, including a 276-day hearing in the High Court.

In the proceedings before Mr Justice Humphreys, Mr Wymes objected to the court making an order substituting Michael Ian Larkin for Chris Lehane as the Official Assignee (OA), the trustee administering Mr Wymes bankruptcy, as the applicant for an order extending Mr Wymes bankruptcy.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Humphreys rejected the objections and made an order substituting Mr Larkin as the applicant.

Because the OA has already had the benefit of an interim extension of the bankruptcy pending the hearing of the motion for a substantive extension, and in the absence of any objection from the OA, the judge adjourned the application for the substantive extension order.

The parties have liberty to apply, either on the basis of the Supreme Court’s judgment dismissing Mr Wymes’ appeal aimed at permitting him challenge the decision adjudicating him bankrupt, or for any other reason, the judge directed.

Protracted litigation

Mr Wymes and Mr Wood, with Tom Roche senior, established Bula in 1971 to buy a zinc and lead mine near Navan but it collapsed with substantial debts some years later. The State was a shareholder in the company and protracted litigation followed, the costs of which were taxed in 2003 at €3.29 million. The bill, plus interest, amounted to some €4.8 million.

The Minister set about recovering that money and issued bankruptcy proceedings against Mr Wymes and Mr Wood. Further litigation followed over the bankruptcy summonses.

Ultimately, in March 2018, the High Court’s Mr Justice Charles Meenan ruled the Minister was entitled to orders adjudicating both men bankrupt.

Neither man appealed that order but Mr Wymes, representing himself, later went to the High Court seeking to dispute the validity of the adjudication of bankruptcy against him. He lost and also lost an appeal to the Court of Appeal. Last week, he lost a further appeal to the Supreme Court.