Auctioneer must pay balance of €1.7m award

An auctioneer alleged to have secretly profited from selling an elderly woman's lands for an alleged undervalue of £110,000 to a company with which he was connected, has been ordered to repay outstanding monies due under a €1.7 million settlement of proceedings against him. It was claimed the true market value of the lands was €450,000.

It was claimed in the High Court yesterday that auctioneer Colm McEvoy, Fairgreen, Naas, Co Kildare, had falsely told Mary Maher the £110,000 price secured by him for her lands in 1996 was reasonable, falsely told her the lands had limited development potential and failed to tell her the purchaser was a company connected with himself.

It was claimed Ms Maher had wished to sell the lands to raise money to fund her care in her later years and that, relying on the alleged false representations of Mr McEvoy, she had agreed to sell for £110,000.

The claims were denied and the case, brought by Robert Murphy on behalf of Ms Maher, described as a person of unsound mind "not so found" [ by the court], was settled on agreed terms last year.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill yesterday granted judgment for €857,824 to Mr Murphy against Mr McEvoy and Colm McEvoy Auctioneers Ltd, after being told the defendants had failed to honour terms of settlement requiring them to pay that sum, the second half of the €1.7 million settlement, by January 20th last.

Hugh O'Keeffe, for Mr Murphy, said Mr McEvoy had sold lands owned by Ms Maher, Bluebell Knoll, Naas, at an undervalue to a related company without telling Ms Maher of his connection with the company.

The case brought on behalf of Ms Maher had been settled for €1.7 million which was to be paid in two tranches. The first tranche of €850,000 was paid late and the second tranche, which had to be paid by January 20th, remained unpaid. Their terms of settlement provided that where the money was not paid, his client could seek judgment in that amount and he was seeking judgment for €850,000, plus interest, making €857,824. The judge granted judgment for that amount and awarded costs to Mr O'Keeffe.

It was claimed Ms Maher had decided in June 1996 to put lands up for sale to realise funds to help her meet her financial needs in her later years.

On August 1st, 1996, she had engaged Mr McEvoy to obtain the best price available for the lands on the open market, it was claimed. However, acting either on his own behalf or as agent for his firm, Mr McEvoy had allegedly falsely or negligently represented to Ms Maher that the lands had development potential limited to some seven or eight houses, had not told her the purchaser was a company connected with himself and that, in the circumstances, a price of £110,000 was a reasonable one.

It was also claimed Mr McEvoy had falsely represented that the lands were zoned for a different density of housing than was in fact the case.

Relying on what Mr McEvoy had told her, it was claimed Ms Maher agreed to sell the lands for £110,000, representing a substantial undervalue, to Brendan O'Mahony in trust for Westland Properties Ltd, allegedly a company connected with Mr McEvoy.