O’Donnell family lose bankruptcy bid

Retired solicitor Brian O’Donnell and his wife have lost their appeal against the High Court’s dismissal of their bid to have their bankruptcy overturned.

In the High Court last April, Ms Justice Caroline Costello ruled that Brian and Mary Patricia O’Donnell had not advanced any grounds or new evidence as a basis for annulment of the bankruptcy obtained against them by Bank of Ireland in 2013.

The three-judge Court of Appeal, in a judgment yesterday agreed and also upheld the High Court’s finding that the couple had sought to advance arguments which they were either in a position to make or, with reasonable diligence, could have made as early as March 2011.