A FILM-MAKER and his screen-writer wife are opposing a High Court bid by a Californian production company to take possession of their family home which they had put up as security on a $535,000 loan.
Terence and Mary Susan Ryan, who are both involved in film production, are facing possession proceedings over Derg House, Mountshannon, Co Clare.
The case has been brought against them by After Dark Entertainment of Los Angeles which claims it lent them $535,000 in 2007 to help Mr Ryan with cash-flow difficulties.
When the loan was not repaid, After Dark Entertainment initiated the High Court proceedings seeking possession of the house. Its managing director Steven Richards said Mr Ryan had been involved in the production of a feature film in 2006.
Mr Richards said Mr Ryan contacted him then about getting the loan which was to be repaid in full by December 2008, with a number of repayments to be made in between. A repayment of some $75,000 was made in May 2008 but another, for $60,000, was to be made in July 2008 but was not.
Despite numerous demands for repayment, the Ryans had failed to repay and the amount now due was $651,140, Mr Richards said. They had also failed to deliver up possession of the house on which the loan was secured, he added.
Mr Justice Roderick Murphy yesterday agreed with preliminary arguments by Rossa Fanning, for the Ryans, that the Irish court did not have jurisdiction to deal with the matter at this point because the agreement specifically provided that any matters in dispute must first go before a Californian arbitrator.
The judge said he would make no order but agreed to adjourn the case for two weeks to allow John Breslin, for After Dark Entertainment, to take instructions.