Gaynor (A Bankrupt) (No 2) v Courts Service of Ireland

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys
• Judgment Date: 16 December 2016
• Neutral Citation: [2016] IEHC 730
• Docket Number: [2015 No. 618 J.R.]
• Court: High Court
• Date: 16 December 2016

BETWEEN

JOHN GAYNOR (A BANKRUPT)

APPLICANT

AND

COURTS SERVICE OF IRELAND

AND

THOMAS KINIRONS

RESPONDENTS

AND

NOEL SHERIDAN

AND

PETER QUINN

NOTICE PARTIES

AND BY ORDER

OFFICIAL ASSIGNEE

NOTICE PARTY

(No. 2)

[2016] IEHC 730

[2015 No. 618 J.R.]

THE HIGH COURT

JUDICIAL REVIEW

Banking and Finance – Insolvency – Practice and Procedures – S. 44 of the Bankruptcy Act 1988 – Process of bankruptcy – Re-entry of judicial review

Facts: The applicant had an application for judicial review against the service of bankruptcy summons, which having been rejected by the High Court and also by the Court of Appeal on the appeal but with the liberty to re-enter. The applicant now exercising that liberty sought to re-enter the judicial review in the High Court by way of the present notice of motion. The applicant alleged that he was not afforded the benefit of the initial ruling that he could have raised in relation to the summons. The respondent contended that he did not have the jurisdiction to re-enter a matter which was in effect the final order of the Court of Appeal and the initial order of the refusal of judicial review application brought the judicial review to an end at the High Court level.

Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys refused the application for leave to re-enter the judicial review. The Court stated that the applicant was in the wrong Court and the liberty to re-enter given by the Court of Appeal referred to the re-entry in that particular Court itself and not in the High Court. The Court observed that the summons, which the applicant originally sought to set aside, had in effect been superseded as a legally operative and relevant instrument by an order of the Court, which the applicant had appealed. The Court refused to grant the other ancillary reliefs to the applicant.

JUDGMENT of Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys delivered on the 16th day of December, 2016

1 In November, 2015 the applicant sought leave to apply for judicial review in relation to the refusal by the Courts Service to accept his application for an order setting aside a bankruptcy summons. On 13th November, 2015, I directed him to make that application on notice. Having heard from the parties I refused the application for leave ( Gaynor v. Courts Service (No. 1) [2015] IEHC 876, Unreported, High Court, 30th November, 2015), inter alia by reference to the ruling by Costello J. (who was dealing with the bankruptcy matter) that the applicant would not be disadvantaged by the failure to accept the application to set aside the summons and that he could raise his points by way of defence.

2 The applicant then appealed the refusal of leave to the Court of Appeal (2015/591) on 3rd December, 2016. On 7th December, 2015, he was adjudicated bankrupt before Costello J. On 3rd March, 2016, the Court of Appeal (Kelly P.) struck out the appeal in relation to the leave refusal with liberty to re-enter. The liberty to re-enter seems...