McNamara faces €96m lawsuit on bottle site
Saturday November 07 2009
DEVELOPER Bernard McNamara is being personally sued for €96m by clients of Davy Stockbrokers over the now infamous purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle Site.
Mr McNamara, who last week launched a €140m action against the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) over the terms of the mammoth property deal, one of the largest in Irish history, will "vigorously defend" the action.
Three years ago, a consortium headed by Mr McNamara, financier Derek Quinlan, the DDDA and a group of investors headed by Davy paid €412m for the 25-acre site in Ringsend on the south side of the Liffey, in Dublin. It is now valued at an estimated €60m.
Davy's action, on behalf of private clients who loaned funds to the builder to invest in the site, has been lodged against Donatex, a McNamara company and a shareholder in Becbay, the company that ended up buying the land.
The legal action is also against Mr McNamara in a personal capacity -- on the grounds that he provided a personal guarantee on the initial funds that private investors provided to fund his own investment.
The litigation is the single largest personal-guarantee action to seek entry in the Commercial Court and comes as the court prepares to deal with an anticipated wave of litigation arising from various tax-break schemes extended to the hotel and nursing home sectors. Davy investors will seek access to Ireland's fast-track Commercial Court list on Monday morning.
The sum sought by Davy's clients, the Channel Islands-based Ringsend Property Limited, dwarfs the €60m summary judgment order being sought personally against developer Liam Carroll by the Irish Nationwide Building Society.
It also exceeds the recent judgment secured by Anglo Irish Bank against troubled hotelier Hugh O'Regan for €37.5m -- for personal borrowings and guarantees.
That was the largest recorded judgment to date against an individual in Ireland.
Exposure
Mr O'Regan will again come before the Commercial Court on Monday, where he is being personally sued for another €35m by Anglo on foot of personal guarantees provided to secure bank finance for his Morrison co-ownership.
Developer Paddy Kelly and Patrick Dunning, who operated Dublin's boutique hotel, The Morrison, along with Mr O'Regan, are also being sued by Anglo although the extent of the personal exposure claimed in relation to the two men is said to be less than €4m.
- Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor
Irish Independent
