Lynch PA asked if AIB family loan was nonrecourse hours before deal, court told

THE personal assistant to businessman Philip Lynch asked a solicitor, just hours before a €25 million loan was signed by the Lynch family, whether the final terms of that loan meant AIB would have recourse only to lands for repayment, a court has heard.

The family received an email from a solicitor with LK Shields early on February 8, 2007, stating the final terms of the loan involved no recourse to them, the Commercial Court heard yesterday. They signed up to the loan at 3pm that day.

LK Shields claims what was said in that email and others was based on information received from Ronan McLoughlin, a solicitor in another law firm, Matheson Ormsby Prentice (MOP), the previous night, but Mr McLoughlin has denied information provided by him could have led to a view in LK Shields that the loan was nonrecourse.