Courtyard Associates Ltd v McGee ( Executrix Estate George McGee Deceased)

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice de Valera
• Judgment Date: 18 December 2009
• Neutral Citation: [2009] IEHC 626
• Court: High Court
• Date: 18 December 2009
• Docket Number: [No. 4316P/2000]

[2009] IEHC 626

THE HIGH COURT

[No. 4316P/2000]

Courtyard Associates Ltd v McGee

BETWEEN

COURTYARD ASSOCIATES LIMITED

PLAINTIFF

AND

ELSIE MCGEE AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND EXECUTRIX OF THE ESTATE OF GEORGE MCGEE DECEASED

DEFENDANT

FLYNN & NEWMAN'S CONTRACT, IN RE 1948 IR 104

DORAN v DELANEY 1996 ILRM 490

Mr. Justice de Valera

1 The plaintiff's claim in this matter is for damages for breach of contract and/or negligence in respect of the purchase of an area of land at Rosbrien in the County of Limerick (on the outskirts of Limerick City) comprising approximately 28.34 acres from George McGee, now deceased and whose estate, represented by Elsie McGee, is the defendant is these proceedings.

2 The defence entered on behalf of the defendant denies that this purchase was for the entirety of the 28.34 acre site but rather for a slightly smaller area of approximately 27.5 acres.

3 The area of land which constitutes the difference between the parties is a small triangular shaped area of approximately three quarters of an acre and is clearly identified on the maps submitted in evidence.

4 The purchase was effected by an agreement in writing dated 29^th January, 1999 to which agreement a map of the overall site area was attached. This map, it is common case, showed, outlined in red, the area purportedly being conveyed which, most importantly, included as part of the overall site area the three quarter acre portion.

5 It is also common case that this three quarter acre area had, in fact, been compulsorily acquired by Limerick County Council on the 18^th November, 1998, some ten weeks before the purported sale which is the subject matter of these proceedings.

6 It is the plaintiff's case that at all times it, the plaintiff, believed that the three quarter acre area (which was of considerable significance to the plaintiff's plans) was part of the area being conveyed to it. The defendant claimed that though the map attached to the agreement, admittedly in error, showed the three quarter acre area to be part of the lands being conveyed, this error was known to the plaintiff who realised, or should have realised, that this portion had been compulsorily purchased by the Limerick County Council on the 18^th November, 1988 some ten weeks prior to the agreement between the parties of the 29^th January, 1999. In support of this contention the defendant seeks to rely on previous proceedings between the plaintiff herein and George McGee (High Court Record No. 2000/4361P) but this, in my view, is of little relevance.

7 Having heard the evidence, and the submissions put forward on behalf of both the plaintiff and the defendant, I do not accept that the plaintiff could, or should, have been, or in fact was,...