Jim Kennedy firm claims damages from CAB over Carrickmines

A company of businessman Jim Kennedy is seeking damages from the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) claiming it had no right to seek a court order which froze the ownership of lands in Carrickmines, Dublin, for several years.

Jackson Way Properties Ltd (JWPL), a Birmingham-registered company, claims a High Court freezing order obtained in July 2006 was wrongfully obtained, initially over 108 acres, and later over 17.6 acres rezoned in 1997 from agriculture to industrial use.

In January 2014, following years of litigation, that freezing order was lifted over all the land.

JWPL is now claiming damages for alleged negligence, breach of duty and breach of constitutional and European convention rights with regard to the original 2006 order.

The Cab denies the claims and contends JWPL is legally prevented from making such a claim now when it had consented to a variation of the freezing order in 2010 and had not previously appealed against that order.

Mr Justice Raymond Fullam has reserved his decision.