Former Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) boss Michael Fingleton has lost his Supreme Court bid to halt a civil trial alleging he negligently mismanaged the failed lender.
Five judges of the top court held that the 86-year-old, acting through his wife and his son, Michael Fingleton jnr, under their powers of attorney, fell “considerably” short of the threshold that would convince the court it should dismiss his case before a hearing.
The High Court and Court of Appeal had already refused to halt the trial, which is scheduled to run next year.
Mr Fingleton’s lawyers had urged the Supreme Court to end the 2012 civil claim brought against him by the liquidators of the State-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), which took over INBS after it collapsed. They argued he cannot receive a fair trial due to being incapacitated after suffering a stroke several years ago and because of the passage of time since the alleged events.
The liquidators’ senior counsel, John Fitzgerald, submitted that halting the case would be a “draconian step”.
The claim against Mr Fingleton was originally pitched at €6 billion, the amount lost by the lender after the 2008 property crash. It has since significantly narrowed to about €290 million and centres around a series of five loans issued between 2006 and 2009.
He denies the claims against him.
Giving the Supreme Court’s judgment on Thursday, Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe said ill-health does not, in itself, ground an entitlement to have a case dismissed. He concluded that the Court of Appeal had applied the legal principles correctly in finding that Mr Fingleton had not discharged the “very high burden” in attempting to secure a dismissal.
The lower court correctly concluded that Mr Fingleton’s inability to instruct his lawyers or to give evidence in court “falls short, and considerably so, of the threshold” to persuade the court to dismiss the case before a trial, said Mr Justice Woulfe.
The judge said the balance of justice and fairness will remain a live issue for the High Court trial judge to monitor. The judge hearing the case next year will have a duty to ensure fairness, he said
Mr Justice Woulfe’s decision was unanimously supported by his four colleagues: Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne; Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley; Mr Justice Gerard Hogan; and Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly.
Mr Fingleton led Irish Nationwide between 1971 and 2009, holding the role of managing director for much of the period, though his title was changed to chief executive close to the end of his time in charge.
Mr Fingleton jnr has said his father, who was worth €75 million in 2006, had less than €25,000 in two personal bank accounts and outstanding judgment debts of more than €10.7 million as of late 2022.
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