More evidence of NAMA’s litigation activities today with the Courts Service revealing that the Agency is suing an individual, Seamus Downes. The application in Dublin’s High Court was made on 28th November, 2012 and the case reference is 2012/4456 S. The applicant is National Asset Loan Management Limited, represented by top tier solicitors firm Eversheds. The respondent is merely named as “Seamus Downes” and as is usual with recently-filed cases, there is no solicitor on record for the respondent.
For the non-Irish audience, our very expensive but oftentimes primitive judicial system doesn’t allow third parties to access court records, so we can’t even confirm the identity of the respondent, let alone the examine the outline of the case or remedy sought by NAMA. There was a Seamus Downes that was sued by NAMA earlier this year in an action which also named Limerick solicitor and developer Paul O’Brien as a respondent. It should be stressed that we don’t know if this is the same Seamus Downes now being sued on his own by NAMA.
In the past, NAMA has taken legal action against individuals to enforce personal guarantees or to secure personal judgments, but it should be stressed that we do not know if either of these objectives lies behind the current application. NAMA doesn’t comment on individual cases, not even to confirm the identity of the respondent.
So far this year, NAMA has launched 37 separate actions in Dublin’s High Court and has been on the receiving end of six.
UPDATE: 24th April, 2013. NAMA has confirmed in its Q4,2012 report that it is pursuing Seamus Downes for €5,840,000.
