Celebrity chef Conrad Gallagher did not have to lodge a bank draft for £15,000 in court yesterday after lawyers for the landlord of his former restaurant, Lloyds Brasserie, who is seeking judgment against him for £70,500, objected to the decision of the Master of the High Court to refer the case to the High Court list next October.
The proceedings taken against Mr Gallagher by Gerard McGurn, landlord of the premises at Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, which formerly housed Lloyds Brasserie, came before the Master of the High Court, Mr Harry Hill SC, yesterday afternoon for the third time in a week.
When the case was before the Master last Tuesday, Mr Gallagher gave an undertaking that he would lodge a bank draft for £15,000 in court in the names of the solicitors for the parties to await the outcome of the action.
Yesterday, a solicitor for Mr Gallagher handed a bank draft for £15,000 to the Master. But Mr Conor Bowman, for Mr McGurn, said that court rules precluded the Master from referring the case to the High Court for plenary hearing unless it was by consent.
In that event, the Master said that he would hand back the bank draft to Mr Gallagher's side and would not require the money to be lodged in court. He added that, at the earlier hearing, he had indicated that he would send the case for plenary hearing, but he had made no order.
Master Hill said that he would send the case to the High Court list on October 9th, which he regarded as the first available date. He said that Mr McGurn could appeal that decision if he wished. Mr Bowman said that there would be an appeal.
The claim for £70,500 is made up of £57,500 for alleged rent arrears and £13,000 for a personal loan which Mr McGurn claims to have made to Mr Gallagher and which, it was claimed, was repaid by a personal cheque which bounced.
Mr Gallagher, in an affidavit on Tuesday, said that over the past 21/2 years there had been a "litany of problems on a daily basis" with the premises, of varying degree of seriousness, arising out of which there had been numerous complaints by customers.
He added that he had expended monies on the restaurant and that he was counter-claiming in respect of them.