Mother and son in court over ownership of Kilkenny shops

A bitter dispute between a son and his mother concerning ownership of the well-known Kilkenny group of luxury design retail stores, employing 300 people, has come before the Commercial Court.

Greg O’Gorman claims, after 13 years’ service and “no suggestion of misconduct or non-performance on my part”, his mother Marian, CEO of the company running the Kilkenny stores, “summarily terminated” his employment as group marketing director last July in a “demeaning and humiliating” manner.

This left him, his wife and three children, “financially destitute” and he has been unable to get alternative employment, he said.

Despite promises over years of a share transfer for his hard work, his mother last June publicly repudiated a signed “Family Constitution” document under which she held legal ownership of shares in the company in trust for the O’Gorman Family Business Partnership comprising himself and his three siblings, Christopher, Melissa and Michelle, he claims.

All four siblings hold a 25 per cent share, with the estimated value of his shareholding at €12.5 million, it is alleged.

Proceedings

The “enormous personal toll” of these events has been compounded by marital disharmony between his parents who recently separated after 41 years married, he added.

When the proceedings came before Mr Justice Brian McGovern at the Commercial Court on Monday, the judge said the case was “peculiarly suited” for mediation and urged the parties to consider that. It would be “very undesirable” to have this family dispute involving a successful business being explored publicly, he said.

Rossa Fanning SC, for Mr O’Gorman, said he would convey what the judge had said but, unfortunately, there was a “history of acrimonious disputes” which Mrs O’Gorman, Fernhurst, Tower, Blarney, Co Cork, had found herself at the centre of over years.

The judge agreed to join Christopher O’Gorman, Castle Close Road, Blarney; Melissa O’Gorman, Mount Street Crescent, Dublin 2 and Michelle O’Gorman, Fernhurst, Tower, Blarney, as notice parties and returned the case to June next.

Mr Fanning said Mr O’Gorman makes no criticism of his siblings and is not advancing any legal case against them but needs to join them as the outcome of the case would affect their interests.

Mr O'Gorman, Castle Close Avenue, Blarney, said Clydaville Investments Ltd, which carries on the luxury design retail Kilkenny business brand, operates 15 stores with its flagship store at Dublin's Nassau Street. It had a €27 million turnover in 2015 and he had secured a preliminary desktop valuation of some €50 million for the business.

He was employed full-time by Clydaville between 2003 and 2016 and, after turning around the performance of the Galway store, was promoted by his mother to more senior roles and later to group marketing director. The business flourished particularly during and since the economic recession, due “in no small part” to his management contribution, he said.

Promises

He made many personal sacrifices to ensure the success of the business, including working exceptionally long hours for a salary that did not reflect that, he said.

His mother represented he was effectively working for himself because of her promises to transfer a shareholding to him, he claimed. To give effect to “repeated” promises, she convened family meetings and instructed advisers from 2009 leading to her and all four children being bound by terms of a family constitution executed in September 2010, he claims

That evidenced the creation of a family partnership involving the four children as general partners and their mother as managing partner with Mrs O’Gorman continuing as the named shareholder of Clydaville but holding the shares in trust for the O’Gorman Family Partnership, it is claimed.

All parties complied with terms of those documents until a company meeting of June 22nd, 2016, when his mother read a prepared statement which said the company was no longer to be considered as a “family company”, he said. His employment was summarily terminated without reasons shortly afterwards, he said.

He was “shocked and personally devastated” and found “profoundly upsetting” his mother “publicly reneged on promises and commitments given to me over many years”.

He lodged a claim for unfair dismissal before the Workplace Relations Commission in December 2016 and sought advice leading to this case been initiated.