A co-owner of the company at the centre of the long running Claddagh Rings business dispute has not yet responded to a High Court order freezing his assets, a judge was told on Friday.
Mr Justice Brian Cregan said he would give Andrew Fried until next Friday to respond to the freezing order proceedings brought against him by his brother Philip Fried and if he did not do so further orders may be made against him in his absence.
Last week, the judge granted an interim injunction preventing Andrew, his wife Felicity Fried, their children Isabella and Ruben, and a Spanish company, Villas Adelfa SL, from reducing their assets below €969,000.
It followed a one-side only application by Philip, a co-shareholder with Andrew in Claddagh Jewellers Ltd, when the court was told a long-running dispute between the brothers had “opened up on a new front” in a row over ownership of a Spanish villa worth €969,000.
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The brothers had settled a High Court dispute over the business in December 2020.
As part of that settlement, Philip said, the parties agreed to transfer to their mother Janis ownership of Villa la Joya in Benalmadena, Malaga, where their parents lived since 1975. The Spanish firm, Villas Adelfa, owned the property with the two brothers each holding half the shares in the company.
However, it subsequently emerged that Andrew, unbeknown to Philip or other parties to the settlement, had unlawfully transferred the previous June his shares in the company to his two minor children, Isabella and Ruben. This purportedly prevented the transfer of the property to their mother, Philip said in an affidavit.
Separately, eviction proceedings, at the behest of Andrew, were issued in Spain requiring their parents to leave the villa, it was claimed. A Spanish judge dismissed the application last September and made explicit reference to the December 2020 settlement agreement.
An appeal has however been lodged against that decision in Spain.
The asset freezing application was brought last week by Philip, along with his parents Janis and Laszlo Fried, Claddagh Jewellers Ltd, Claddagh Ring Ltd, and Irony Galway Properties Unlimited Co. It was adjourned for a week.
On Friday, Jarlath Ryan SC, for Philip, said Andrew’s wife Felicity had agreed not to divest any shares in the company pending further order and not to take any steps to evict the parents from the villa.
However, there had been no communication from what Mr Ryan said was the “main protagonist Andrew Fried”. Counsel said his side would give him until Tuesday to respond after which they will seek a “full suite of orders” against him.
Mr Justice Cregan adjourned it for another week and in the absence of any replying affidavit from Andrew, he would hear any application from Mr Ryan for further orders against him.
