Banks criticised for sloppy presentation of cases

A HIGH COURT judge has criticised the “sloppy” and “careless” manner in which legal proceedings are being brought by various banks in their efforts to recover multi-million euro unpaid loans, mostly relating to property developments.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly, who manages the Commercial Court list, noted that, in one case yesterday by Anglo Irish Bank, the bank had in its legal claim sued for €3 million when the sum involved was actually €9m.

The judge said an error of €6m was suggestive of carelessness and there was “a lot of that” in High Court actions brought by banks. If a claim was for €9m, that should be the amount specified in the summons.