€800,000 offer of insurance settlement fails

An expected €800,000 settlement of proceedings by a widowed mother of two against insurance giant Axa over water damage to her mid-Victorian home in Sandymount, Dublin, failed yesterday over what her lawyers described as “minimal” differences.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he had understood the settlement would be agreed on terms outlined by Axa in court on Thursday and he considered what was now going on was “nonsense”.

Axa’s proposed settlement was “very reasonable, if not generous”, he added.

Michael Forde SC, for Ann Marie Glennon Cully, indicated the settlement provided for reinstatement works to her home over the coming months but issues had arisen concerning insurance of the premises.

Paul Fogarty SC, for Axa, said what was being sought by Ms Glennon Cully did not reflect what Axa had proposed.

Reinstatement works

The court heard on Thursday Ms Glennon Cully was prepared, subject to consent of her son Zane, to accept a settlement involving payment of some €645,000 for reinstatement works.

That follows payments by Axa of €159,000 to cover costs including for the family’s alterative accommodation in the five-star Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin.

Yesterday Mr Forde said the issue that had arisen did not relate to Zane’s consent.

After hearing both sides, the judge said the matter was clearly not settled and would proceed to hearing next week.

Ms Glennon Cully, her daughter Zara and son Zane, had sued alleging delays by Axa in carrying out reinstatement works to the family’s home at Victoria House, St John’s Road, Sandymount, after they made a claim in January 2010 over damage to their home resulting from escaped water in autumn 2009.

They left the house in October 2011 after another flooding incident and have since lived in the Four Seasons, saying it was the only nearby hotel that would take their pets.

In seeking orders this week requiring Axa to pay some €120,000 now, pending further proceedings, Ms Glennon Cully said she was in arrears of rent, owed other sums and had no savings.

Axa disputed any suggestions she was near destitute and said she had a house in Brittas Bay and her children had a €1.4 million trust fund. It previously decided to make “a generous cash offer” so Ms Glennon Cully could herself organise the resinstatement of her home as it considered her “impossible” to deal with, it said.

She disputed those and other claims and alleged Axa had engaged in “below-the-belt muck-raking”.

“More suitable”

They moved into a one-bedroom apartment and double bedroom in the Four Seasons in October 2011. Since December 2011, all three are in the apartment.

While Ms Glennon Cully said it was “cramped”, Axa said they could have “a much more suitable and considerably less expensive house”.

Axa had paid €7,500 a month for alternative accommodation but reduced that to €5,000 a month from March 2012. It said Ms Glennon Cully offered no explanation for continuing to seek €7,500 a month when the actual cost of the rent was €2,800 a month.