A HIGH Court judge has asked legal parties in a business dispute to either prove to the court the existence of a building or confirm its disappearance.
Mr Justice John Quirke said yesterday he could make no order in a landlord’s petition to wind up his tenant’s business until the matter of the missing building was resolved.
Eamon Marray, for Salmoncita Enterprises Ltd, told the court his client’s registered office was at Walnut Lodge, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin.
The court heard that Salmoncita Enterprises owns a bar and nightclub, AKA, at 6-8 Wicklow Street in Dublin, and rents its basement premises from Kilfoylan Vale Ltd, South William Street, Dublin.
Kilfoylan Vale seeks to wind up Salmoncita on the alleged grounds it continues to operate while insolvent and is unable to pay its debts, including a rent bill for €85,000.
Gary McCarthy SC, for Kilfoylan, told the court his client had information that Walnut Lodge had been demolished some years ago and, although stated to be the registered office of Salmoncita, the building no longer existed.
Last week when he gave Kilfoylan Vale leave to serve its petition to wind up Salmoncita Enterprises through the ordinary post, Mr Justice Michael Peart was told the purported existing registered office had turned out to be an old partly converted church or hall.
Pictures reveal that the front door of the building, referred to as the former Meath Industrial School on Carysfort Avenue, bears a name plate with the words Salmoncita Enterprises Ltd, Registered Office, above the letter box.
Mr McCarthy said Kilfoylan Vale had information that the building was not Walnut Lodge as claimed by Salmoncita Enterprises.
Mr Marray said a statutory letter of demand for money owed and the petition to wind up a company must be served on a company’s registered office and this had not occurred.
George McLellan, Kilfoylan Vale company director, said in an affidavit that annual returns indicated that Salmoncita was trading while insolvent, had a judgment against it for €28,800 and owed commercial rates of €196,000.
Judge Quirke said he could make no order until as it was clarified whether the company’s registered office remained in existence.