Sunday 15 February 2009

Liam Carroll hit with five fresh High Court actions

Developer Liam Carroll is facing multiple court battles after five new High Court cases were lodged against him since the start of the year.

Retailer Marks & Spencer (Ireland), which is a tenant of Carroll in his Tallaght scheme, and estate agent Savills, are among those to have issued legal proceedings against the developer's company Danninger. Mercury Engineering, Coolair and Fire Design Solutions have also taken proceedings against Danninger.

Carroll is one of the biggest housebuilders in Dublin. He has recently slashed prices at some of his developments. A winding-up petition was brought against Danninger last year but the order was avoided after Carroll settled with a photographic agency.

Carroll faces more headaches because rival developer Seán Dunne has appealed the decision by Dublin City Council (DCC) to allow the retention of offices earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank at Dublin's north quays. Carroll is using a vehicle called North Quay Investments (NQI) for the scheme.

A decision on the appeal is not due until June. It is unclear how that delay will affect Carroll's commitments to the building's tenants. He was given the go-ahead by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority because it was "critical" for his company to receive planning "within the said 12-month timeframe to allow NQI to honour its commitments to certain prospective tenants at North Wall Quay". That permission was later the subject of a legal action and was not upheld by the courts. The Spencer Dock Development Company, part-owned by Treasury Holdings, has also sought leave to appeal DCC's verdict to An Bord Pleanála.

Dunne is due in court on Wednesday in a commercial court case involving a dispute over fees with his former property advisers, CBRE.

Irish Times

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