MORE than £28,000 raised at a fine art auction in Dublin last week on behalf of Fritz, Susanne and Brigitte Wolff has been frozen by the High Court.
Mr Justice Smyth ordered James Adam and Sons, auctioneers, not to release the money to anyone other than the sheriff in satisfaction of a judgment in the German courts against Mr Fritz Wolff.
Mr Tony Aston, counsel for a number of German plaintiffs said the defendants had previously owned Castlelyons House, Castlelyons, Co Cork, which had been repossessed by a bank and was to be auctioned on September 25th. His clients were seeking to enforce a judgment of the Regional Court of Frankfurt for DM 540,866 (£222,578).
Mr Aston was also granted continuation of a protection order restraining the auctioneers from releasing antiques or proceeds from next week's sale to the Wolffs. He said there were still some items of fine art due to be sold by the auction room.
Mr Brian Murray, for the Wolffs, said his clients Fritz and Susanne Wolff were in Poland and their daughter, Brigitte, was in Germany. He was granted an adjournment until next Wednesday to allow him to take further instructions.
Mr Justice Smyth ordered that the restraining orders remain in place until next Thursday, the day after the next sale at which the remainder of the Wolffs' property was to be auctioned.
Mr Murray said his clients would be claiming that the property concerned had been transferred to their daughter six years ago, long before the judgment or the debt to which it related had come into existence. Mr Aston told the court this was being disputed.