Gaynor (A Bankrupt) v The Court Service of Ireland

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys
• Judgment Date: 31 July 2018
• Neutral Citation: [2018] IEHC 502
• Docket Number: [2015 No. 618 J.R.]
• Court: High Court
• Date: 31 July 2018

BETWEEN

JOHN GAYNOR (A BANKRUPT)

APPLICANT

AND

THE COURTS SERVICE OF IRELAND

AND

THOMAS KINIRONS

RESPONDENTS

AND

NOEL SHERIDAN

AND

PETER QUINN AND BY ORDER THE OFFICIAL ASSIGNEE

NOTICE PARTIES

(No. 3)

[2018] IEHC 502

[2015 No. 618 J.R.]

THE HIGH COURT

JUDICIAL REVIEW

Judicial review – Bankruptcy summons – Abuse of process – Applicant seeking leave to seek judicial review – Whether the application had merit

Facts: A long-running dispute between the applicant, Mr Gaynor, and his former solicitors gave rise to a substantial number of written decisions of the Superior Courts. In Sheridan v Gaynor [2009] IEHC 421, Feeney J dealt with certain aspects of the dispute. In Sheridan v Gaynor [2012] IEHC 410, Finlay Geoghegan J ordered the applicant to deliver vacant possession of certain lands to his former solicitors. In Gaynor v Courts Service (No. 1) [2015] IEHC 876, Humphreys J refused the applicant leave to seek judicial review of the failure by the first respondent, the Courts Service, to accept his application for an order setting aside the bankruptcy summons. The applicant appealed the refusal of leave to the Court of Appeal, Record No. 2015/591. On 7th December, 2015 he was adjudicated bankrupt by Costello J On 3rd March, 2016 the Court of Appeal (Kelly P) struck out the aforementioned appeal with liberty to re-enter. On 20th April, 2016, O'Connor J dismissed the applicant's application to show cause against the adjudication. In Sheridan v Gaynor [2016] IESCDET 90 the Supreme Court refused leave to appeal to the applicant in relation to a possession order on foot of a judgment mortgage relating to the underlying debt. In Sheridan v Gaynor [2016] IESCDET 91 the Supreme Court dismissed an application to cancel a direction transferring the foregoing matter to the Court of Appeal, an application which had become moot by that point. The applicant appealed the adjudication of bankruptcy to the Court of Appeal, Record no. 2016/6. That was dismissed on 10th October, 2016. On 8th December, 2016 the applicant brought a motion seeking to re-enter the judicial review at High Court level. Humphreys J rejected that in Gavnor v Courts Service of Ireland (No. 2) [2016] IEHC 730. In Re Gaynor (a bankrupt) [2017] IEHC 27 the bankruptcy was extended by Costello J. The applicant then sought leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal decision regarding the adjudication of bankruptcy and that was dismissed by the Supreme Court in Sheridan v Gaynor [2017] IESCDET 124. The applicant applied yet again to set aside or re-enter Humphreys J's original order refusing leave to seek judicial review.

Held by Humphreys J that: (i) the matter which was the subject of the original application was inherently ephemeral, transitional and superseded by the hearing and determination of the bankruptcy summons; (ii) a proper remedy against his order was appeal, not re-entry at High Court level; (iii) having noted that the applicant previously applied to him for almost exactly the same relief in 2016, which he refused, and did not appeal that decision, it was a complete abuse of process to apply again two years later; (iv) the underlying application for leave to seek judicial review had no merit for the reasons stated in (No. 1) judgment.

Humphreys J held that the application must be refused. Given the clear pattern of abuse of the court process Humphreys J would hear from the applicant as to why he should not be subject to an Isaac Wunder...