Fair City actor and businessman Joe Cassidy faces a £20,000 bill for damages and costs after a court case went against him yesterday.
Cassidy, who plays the part of Frank in the RTE soap, was ordered to pay back £10,000 key money he accepted from two business women to whom he part sublet his restaurant in Charlemont Street, Dublin in 1997.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne held in the Circuit Civil court that Cassidy, of Bancroft Park, Tallaght, accepted £10,000 key money from Ms Patricia Lyons and Ms Jean Kavanagh under an agreement to lease his restaurant during daytime hours.
Mr Conor Bowman, counsel for the plaintiffs, told the court Cassidy operated the premises as a restaurant during the evenings after his clients' daytime operations. Judge Dunne said she was satisfied Cassidy, while telling Ms Lyons and Ms Kavanagh there were "hygiene" problems with the Eastern Health Board, had deliberately failed to inform them the restaurant was not registered with the Health Board. He would have been aware that in such circumstances the premises should not have been operated by him or anybody else as a restaurant.
"I am satisfied that had that point been disclosed to Ms Lyons and Ms Kavanagh it would have been extremely unlikely they would have undertaken the onerous task of putting matters to right in respect of the premises," Judge Dunne said.
She was further satisfied that had Ms Lyons, of Haddington Road, Dublin and Ms Kavanagh, of Northumberland Road, Dublin, not paid the £10,000, which she accepted was a condition of their undertaking, they would not have been given the lease by Cassidy.
Judge Dunne said they were entitled to a refund because they could not legally trade and had entered into the lease with Cassidy only on the grounds of his representation there were no problems other than matters relating to the hygiene side of the business.
She said Cassidy also accepted from the women £900 towards the payment of rates which he had undertaken to pay and which he admitted in evidence he had not.
She ordered they be repaid £300 of this money on the basis that they had eight months' use of the restaurant, during which they would have incurred a liability.