TV doctor granted injunction over clinic

TV doctor Nina Byrnes has secured a temporary High Court injunction restoring her to possession of a medical surgery she has been operating at a South Dublin shopping centre.

Dr Byrnes has presented Health of the Nation, for RTÉ, and Doctor in the House, for TV3.

She sought an injunction in respect of a GP surgery trading under the name Generation Health on the 1st Floor, Glenageary Shopping Centre, in Co Dublin.

Dr Byrnes claimed she had been evicted from the surgery by the landlords and owners of the property in Glenageary from where she had operated the surgery since June 2015. Their actions, she claimed, meant she was not in a position to attend to her patients.

She took the proceedings against Pearl Health Ltd, its director David Johnson of Killiney Hill Upper, Killiney, Co Dublin, and UK-based Irish businessman Derek Richardson, the owner of English rugby team Wasps.

At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Michael Hanna granted Dr Byrnes an interim injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with her operation of, and the employees working at the medical practice.

The defendants must also surrender vacant possession of the property to her and are prohibited from trespassing on the property. The injunction also restrains the defendants from accessing, interfering with or removing patients’ records held at the GP clinic.

In a sworn statement, Dr Byrnes, who also operates another Generation Health clinic in Castleknock, Dublin, said following negotiations in 2015, she established a new GP clinic at Glenageary shopping centre, where she employs two GPs.

She did so after Pearl Health Ltd had stated its plan was to bring together dentists, physiotherapists and other related professionals so as to create a medical centre.

At that time, she said Pearl’s director, Mr Johnson, advised her Mr Richardson was his business partner. While she had never met Mr Richardson, she said he is the owner of the 1st Floor premises of the shopping centre.

She said it had been agreed she would be a lessee of the property, where she would have exclusive rights to provide GP services under the Generation Health brand.

As part of the agreement, rent was to be paid to Pearl in the form of 20% of the profit available after Generation Health paid its staff. It was to be capped at €40k per year.

She claimed attempts had been made to amend the agreement which, she said, amounted to an unlawful interference with her business.

Changes had been made to the clinic’s website without her knowledge which had made it look like the GPs employed by Generation Health were employed by another company. A printed brochure promoting the medical clinic had made no mention of the Generation Health brand, and inappropriate emails had been sent to staff, she claimed.

When she attempted to pay rent at the end of May, it had been returned and, in a letter from Mr Johnson in June, she had been informed Generation Health no longer existed in Glenageary.

When she arrived for work on Friday last, there had been an attempt to lock her out of the premises. She says she now stands evicted.

The judge made the matter returnable to next Monday.