Ulster Bank has secured orders from the Commercial Court requiring solicitor Michael Lynn to repay to it loans of about €6.3 million, while Mr Lynn's wife is resisting application for judgment for some €7.6 million against her on grounds that include a claim that banks have a duty of care to customers.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday adjourned to Monday bids by two banks - Bank of Scotland (Ireland) (BOSI) and ACC - for judgment for some €7.6 million against Mr Lynn's wife, Brid Murphy, in relation to mortgages take out on Glenlion House, Thormanby Road, Howth, which the couple intended as their family home.
Ms Murphy is resisting judgment on various grounds, including alleged negligence by BOSI in how it dealt with the couple's application for a €3.85 million mortgage for Glenlion House.
On the application by ACC for judgment against her and Mr Lynn for some €3.8 million, Ms Murphy is claiming she did not sign a home loan agreement with that bank and ACC is investigating that claim.
In previous hearings, the judge was told some three, and perhaps four, mortgages were taken out on Glenlion House with different banks within days of each other in April 2007. The mortgages were for at least €12 million, while the house is valued at some €5 million.
Ms Murphy is contending BOSI was negligent in not running certain checks in relation to prior undertakings going back to June 2004 given to other banks by her husband relating to Glenlion House prior to BOSI approving a €3.85 million mortgage for the couple to purchase the same property. The bank had also valued Mr Lynn's assets at €39 million, the court heard.
The alleged negligence has left Ms Murphy who, prior to her marriage to Mr Lynn in April 2006 was earning €46,000 a year, exposed to potential multimillion euro judgments against her, her counsel, Alex McCarthy BL, said.
If the bank had had its own solicitor dealing with the matter, rather than relying on undertakings, Ms Murphy would not be in this situation of facing possible judgments for some €7.6 million and maybe more and it would be a serious injustice if she were not given a proper opportunity to raise a defence, he said. The bank had a "duty of care" to customers.
Caroline Costello BL, for BOSI, said none of the issues raised amount to a defence to her client's application for judgment.
The judge said that, even if the criticisms of BOSI were valid, he could not see how they amounted to a defence to the bank's application for judgment for some €3.85 million against Ms Murphy.
Last week, the bank secured judgment in that amount against Mr Lynn relating to the mortgage loan and also secured an additional €1.9 million judgment against him relating to another loan.
Neither could it be said that Ms Murphy would not be in the position she now found herself had she not married Mr Lynn, the judge remarked.
Ms Murphy had earlier raised issues about whether the €3.85 million loan was advanced for other purposes, but the judge said documents from the bank indicated it had treated the application as a home loan. Because the loan was not for commercial purposes, the argument that Ms Murphy should have been independently advised was also gone, he said.
The judge said he would give her one final opportunity to see if there was a defence in law to the application for judgment and adjourned the matter to Monday next. He also adjourned to Monday ACC's application.
Earlier yesterday, the judge granted Ulster Bank judgment in the sum of about €6.3 million against Mr Lynn arising from three loans given to him from September 2006.
