Dunne had ulterior motive for funding 'ludicrous' case, says judge

The High Court has concluded developer Sean Dunne has an ulterior motive for financing costly proceedings agaisnt a woman who runs a cleaning service.

The High Court has today concluded that developer Sean Dunne has an ulterior motive for financing costly proceedings against a woman who runs a cleaning service.

During the hearing, Judge Mary Laffoy called this legal action "absolutely ludicrous" and said the legal costs would be many multitudes of the €120,000 figure being sought by Dunne's Hollybrook (Brighton Road) Management Company.

Today she awarded just more than €22,000 for breach of contract to Hollybrook, which had claimed that Gina Farrell had overcharged for cleaning services at an apartment complex in Foxrock between 2003 and 2006.

Mr Dunne's family own five of the apartments there and Ms Farrell alleged that this legal battle arose from a vendetta by the developer regarding allegations she made that he had unauthorised access to her mobile phone.

In her judgment, Ms Justice Laffoy concluded the developer did have an ulterior motive for funding these costly proceedings, though she did not speculate as to what that might be.