A High Court judge has ruled there was no basis for complaints of misconduct against two solicitors over the sale of a couple's house 13 years ago.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine ruled the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was correct in finding there was no "prima facie" case against solicitors Seán Sexton and Joan Passi.
In her decision, the judge noted that Mr Sexton is a partner in PJ Walsh and Company, Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, and Ms Passi was the conveyancing solicitor in the firm during the sale of the home of Dermot Connolly and his late wife Maeve.
Mr Connolly brought a complaint to the tribunal over Mr Sexton's and Ms Passi's conduct during the sale of his home in Clonard Drive, Dundrum, Dublin, in 1994.
The couple had fallen into mortgage arrears and were facing eviction after their lender, EBS, secured an order for possession. The Connollys made arrangements to sell the house. Mr Connolly eventually got a buyer for the sum of €63,000, marginally above the valuation placed on it.
Mr Connolly engaged Mr Sexton to act as his solicitor in relation to the sale and Ms Passi later took over responsibility for the closing.
Mr Connolly claimed he had made a gentlemen's agreement with the purchaser that he would have another five weeks to vacate the house after the closing.
The judge noted that, although there was much dispute as to what happened in the days leading up to the closing, Ms Passi said in a sworn statement that she attended the house on November 11th, 1994, for the purpose of having final documentation signed by Mr Connolly and his wife and to give the keys to the purchaser.
Mr Connolly said in his affidavit that Ms Passi attended unannounced, "bullied them" into signing the documents, took the keys from them and handed them to the purchaser.
After going to dinner at a relative's house, the Connollys claimed they returned to find their property "dumped unceremoniously on the front lawn".
The tribunal, which is the internal disciplinary body of the Incorporated Law Society, considered a complaint from Mr Connolly about Mr Sexton and Ms Passi and found no prima facie case had been made out that there was professional misconduct. That decision was appealed to the High Court and heard in January last year.
In her judgment dismissing the appeal against the tribunal's finding, Ms Justice Irvine said that, in Ms Passi's case, even if Mr Connolly had told her he had been promised a further five weeks before moving out, she was obliged to hand over the keys as she might then be in breach of a solicitor's duty of care.
In relation to allegations against Mr Sexton that he colluded with an auctioneer to sell the house below its value (the first offer made on the property), the judge said there was "simply no sustainable evidence to support any such collusion".
While it was regrettable that the sale of the house was still causing immense distress today, it was clear the problems were "a direct consequence" of Mr Connolly's inability to meet the mortgage payments on the house, Ms Justice Irvine said.