Woman (96) sues cousins over loans for Galway homes

A 96-year-old woman is suing two second cousins claiming they have failed to repay $300,000 (€280,000) loans she gave them to do up their homes in Galway. Kathleen McNicholas says she needs the funds to pay for her homecare costs.

A retired waitress, Ms McNicholas, West 107th Street, New York, US, is suing sisters Olive Llewellyn and Ann Cunningham who have contended the monies were not loans, but gifts.

In High Court proceedings mentioned briefly on Wednesday, Ms McNicholas claims says Ms Llewellyn contacted her by phone in January 2012 seeking a loan to repair her home in Rockfield Park, Galway.

Ms McNicholas says she subsequently agreed to advance $200,000 and did so by way of two cheques.

Asked for repayment

She claims Ms Cunningham asked her in April 2013 for a loan to defray the costs of repairs to her home on Fursey Road, Shantalla, Galway.

She says she initially refused that but, after both sisters had travelled to New York to visit Ms McNicholas in May 2013, she agreed to loan Ms Cunningham $100,000 and gave that to her by cheque.

On multiple occasions between 2013 and 2014, Ms McNicholas asked for repayment, saying she needed it to fund homecare costs.

A formal letter of demand seeking repayment was sent by her solicitor last October and both sisters implicitly accepted they received the monies but contended they were gifts, it is claimed.

Ms McNicholas seeks judgment against Ms Llewellyn for $200,000 and for $100,000 against Ms Cunningham.

The court, which heard a defence has yet to be entered by the sisters, fixed a date for hearing of the matter in July.