DEVELOPER DEREK Quinlan has been ordered by the Commercial Court to repay €6.5 million to Bank of Scotland (BOS) in proceedings against him and others for repayment of some €25 million arising from the €180 million purchase of the Bank of Ireland headquarters on Baggot Street in Dublin.
Mr Quinlan did not seek to defend the claim against him in court yesterday but the proceedings against several other businessmen have been adjourned to next February to allow them to file defences.
Three of those businessmen are now said to be living in London but Irish addresses were provided for them in the court documents. They are: Patrick Shovlin, Turnberry, Kerrymount Avenue, Foxrock; Patrick Fitzpatrick, Dargle Lodge, Cookstown, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow; and Anthony Fitzpatrick, Trethorpe, Brennanstown Road, Cabinteely, Dublin.
The bank is claiming summary judgment for €7.4 million against Mr Shovlin and summary judgment for €3.7 million each against Patrick Fitzpatrick and Anthony Fitzpatrick.
The bank has also sued Ronan O’Caoimh of Glencarrig House, Delgany, Co Wicklow, for €1.4 million; Patrick Mooney, Celbridge Road, Maynooth, Co Kildare for €1.49 million; and Peter Lavelle, Croselis Square, St Margarets, Twickenham, for €483,696.
The case arose from loans of some €180 million issued by BOS, as agent for a syndicate of other lenders, to a number of borrowers in 2006 to buy the Baggot Street premises. Quinlan Private acted as the borrowers’ agent for the purposes of the loan agreement.
The agreement provided that recourse to the borrowers, subject to stated exceptions, was limited principally to the property itself. The agreements also provided, if the value of the property was insufficient to meet the borrowing, there was no further recourse to the borrowers.
In its proceedings, BOS claims, notwithstanding the general limited recourse provided for under the loan agreement, the loan agrement provided for certain recourse to the borrowers and their assets. It claims entitlement to recourse for each borrower’s proportion of interest payable on the loan facilities and also to each borrower’s recourse amount as identified by each borrower’s agent as defined in the loan agrement, with the aggregate recourse sum being €25 million.
The bank said about €183 million was due under the loan agreement last June when it issued individual demand letters to the defendants demanding payment within seven days of their portion of the interest payable and also demanding payment of various amounts allegedly due under other provisions.
Those sums have not been paid, it claims.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly transferred the case to the Commercial Court yesterday after rejecting arguments by some of the defendants the case should not be fast-tracked on grounds including delay by the bank in bringing the proceedings.
The judge agreed to enter summary judgment against Mr Quinlan, with an address at Manfred Road, London, who had not entered an appearance in the action and was not represented.
The judge said he was satisfied the proceedings were properly served on Mr Quinlan, through the borrower’s agent, Thomas Dowd of Avestus Capital Partners (successor to Quinlan Private), and the bank was entitled to judgment against Mr Quinlan in the amount of €6,710,064.
Summary judgment for €827,859 was also entered on consent against NBH Investments Ltd (formerly Gowan Securities Ltd), with registered offices at Herbert Avenue, Merrion Road, Dublin.
Former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick was also a borrower in the Baggot Street deal. He was adjudicated a bankrupt by the High Court in June 2010.
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