Judge orders pair to pay €2.15m to complete shareholding contract

TWO businessmen said to have insufficient funds to complete a e3.57 million contract to buy a shareholding in a company have been ordered by the Commercial Court to pay the €2.15m balance of the amount due under the contract.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly made the judgment order yesterday against James McIntyre, of Boyne Hill, Navan, Co Meath, and Brian McDonagh, of Limekiln Hall, Dublin Road, Navan, after finding they had advanced no arguable defence to the application.

Gabriel Gavigan, for Padraig Kiernan, of Mullaboy, Kilnaleck, Co Cavan, and Richard Devlin, of Ballytoohey, Tarmonbarry, Co Roscommon, had sought the order arising from an agreement of September 26, 2008 under which the defendants agreed to purchase the plaintiffs shareholding in Ovenfeast Ltd and Ovenfeast Intelligence Ltd for a total sum of e3.575m.

A condition of the September 2008 agreement provided the defendants would pay a non-refundable deposit on the signing of the agreement. That sum was paid as agreed and additional sums of e1m, plus e50,000 in relation to interest, were later paid.

The defendants later argued they were not required to complete the contract on various grounds but Mr Justice Kelly ruled none of those raised an arguable defence.

He noted one of the grounds was that there was no agreement between the sides to extend the contract completion date when a letter from the defendants own solicitors referred to such an agreement.

The judge was also told the defendants did not have the funds to pay the amount due but he said that could not make the defendants’ obligations under contract any less. The contract was “plain, black and white”, he said.

He granted judgment for the e2.15m balance, plus interest of e25,000, and refused an application by Lousi McEntagart, for the defendants, to put a stay on his order pending any appeal to the Supreme Court.