Solicitor avoids jail in will case

A solicitor avoided jail at the 11th hour when he came up with a bank draft for €23,000 he should not have held back for work on administering two estates on behalf of a will executor.

John Condon, practising under the title of McMahon & Tweedy Solicitors, Merchants Quay, Dublin, was found by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns to be in contempt over his failure to pay the money.

Yesterday, the judge directed he be jailed until such time as he complied with his order and pay the money.

Condon claimed he was owed the money in fees for his work on the estate but the court found at least €23,000 was not due to him. He had already been paid €88,732 in fees from the estate.

Following the judge’s ruling that he be jailed, three gardaí waited for Condon to leave the solicitors’ bench in High Court number 4 to bring him into custody.

At one point, one of the gardaí told Condon, and his lawyers, they weren’t “going to wait around all day” for him as there was an order from the court.

When Mr Justice Kearns resumed his normal sitting shortly afterwards, he was told by counsel for Condon his client would be driven to get a bank draft to have in court by the afternoon.

Later, the judge was informed the bank draft had been received and the contempt order was discharged.

The court heard Condon had worked in the administration of the two estates of a Wicklow based brother and sister who died in the 1990’s.

Unhappy with Condon’s work, the executor, a nephew of the deceased siblings, instructed another solicitor to take over the file. There were a number of difficulties with the nephew having to apply to court for an order that he hand over the file to the new solicitor.

However, when he eventually did so, Condon withheld monies which he believed were due in fees for his work. There were further proceedings over this and the court ultimately found Condon should pay €23,000 to the estate.