December 2009 should have been an unremarkable month in the young life of Brian Colleran.
The 21-year-old from Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon was a keen and active member of the town's GAA club. As the GAA family noted in the aftermath of that December, Brian had a passion for all sports, especially Gaelic football, having played for the town at all age levels. For a year, he played with St Claret's GAA club in Hayes, Middlesex, near London.
But December 2009 changed all that.
Brian worked in Dawn Meats in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, and was on his way there one frosty morning, a passenger in a car driven by a friend and fellow GAA clubmate.
The car hit ice, went out of control and overturned, leaving Brian seriously injured. The full scale of the injuries became clear after it was confirmed that his spine was so damaged that he would not walk again.
Since then, Brian has been confined to a wheelchair but, as multiple photographs on Facebook can attest to, he has not let the vagaries of unkind fate hold back his enjoyment of life.
Following the crash, Brian’s family, friends and the wider community of Ballaghaderreen – not to mention the GAA family as far away as the UK where his brother Michael was a leading light in St Joseph’s Club in Greenford, in northwest London – rallied around him, many launching fundraising events.
Trust fund
The Brian Colleran Trust Fund was established to help with medical bills.
On May 18th, 2010, Brian took a personal injury case against the driver – not because he blamed him for what happened but because that was the way to access the driver’s insurance cover and hence – hopefully – provide for Brian’s long-term medical care and the sort of alterations to wherever he lived that likely would have to be made.
The legal case was not protracted and, according to sources, benefited from mediation.
The High Court record shows there were just five court events – two filings, two adjournments and an order – before a settlement was announced, on October 19th, 2011, and the action was struck out.
The settlement was very substantial – €5.2 million – a figure arrived at with a view to Brian’s expected lifelong needs. The money was paid through Declan O’Callaghan, the senior solicitor and principal of Kilrane O’Callaghan, Ballaghaderreen’s best-known and largest legal practice.
But only €4.75 million found its way into the Colleran account in the town's branch of Bank of Ireland. Despite repeated requests, sources close to the Collrerans say Declan O'Callaghan has not offered an explanation from 2011 that is acceptable to the family for the other €450,000, nor had given them a balance-sheet statement.
At one stage, sources close to the family say he told them he was holding on to the €450,000 for “a month or so” to deal with anything outstanding that might arise from the case.
It is not clear what Mr O’Callaghan could have had in mind.
A compensatory award for damages in such circumstances should be paid in full to the intended recipient, unless the client agrees otherwise. Legal costs would be dealt with separately and would be paid by the side settling the action, irrespective of admissions of liability, in this instance the insurance company.
Last summer, the family wrote to the Law Society, the solicitors' representative body and also its regulatory authority, demanding answers.
The Irish Times understands that Mr O'Callaghan has told the Law Society in writing that he retained the €450,000 since 2011 to deal with what he described as "special damages" arising from the case.
The Colleran family do not know what this means and sources close to them say they did not agree to any such deductions.
The Irish Times on Friday morning sent a series of detailed questions to Mr O'Callaghan and his wife, Mrs Mary Devine O'Callaghan, who is the office manager in the practice. They responded via a Castlerea firm of solicitors, Staunton Caulfield, in which the principal is Aoife O'Callaghan, who is also a solicitor in Kilrane O'Callaghan and is a daughter of Mr and Mrs O'Callaghan.
Declan O’Callaghan is listed in company records as an owner of the business name of Staunton Caulfield & Co., Solicitors.
‘Responded to in full’
In their response, Staunton Caulfield assert that the Collerans’ complaint was “responded to in full” on August 30th last. The complaint “has already been fully addressed in correspondence to the relevant body, ie the Law Society”.
“That response [to the Law Society] explained how Mr Colleran’s settlement monies were dealt with and attached the relevant supporting documentation,” the solicitors’ firm’s letter said.
Attached to the Staunton Caulfield letter was a note written by Brendan Steen, the Law Society solicitor parachuted into Kilrane O’Callaghan to oversee the firm’s operations while the society’s investigation proceeds.
Last July, Mr O’Callaghan was ordered by the High Court not to practise as a solicitor, or hold himself out to be a solicitor, pending the result of a Law Society inquiry into his activities.
In his note, Mr Steen says he understands that his August 30th response was forwarded by the Law Society to Brian’s mother, Mary Colleran “and her further observations and/or queries were sought, but that no response was received from her, despite a reminder to her on 22nd October”.
Sources close to the family, however, disagree with this version of events. Instead, they say the family was told by the Law Society that it would respond to Mr Steen’s letter where it would ask him to find out from Mr O’Callaghan the basis of the “special damages” deduction and whether the Collerans had agreed to this.
It is not clear if these matters, and the many others relating to the operation of Kilrane O’Callaghan, will be dealt with when the society’s case against Mr O’Callaghan returns to the High Court on Monday.
The inquiry, which is due back in the High Court on Monday, is at least the third professional probe into Mr O’Callaghan since he qualified as a solicitor in 1983.
