Recent attempts by Bank of Scotland plc to enforce its security over the company operating Foley’s Bar and O’Reilly’s Bar in Dublin city centre have been frustrated following various challenges in the High Court, culminating in the appointment of an examiner.

The Belohn Limited is the company which operates Foley’s Bar and the adjoining O’Reilly’s Bar. Its parent company is Merrow Limited. The two companies are reported to owe the bank in the region of €4 million and €1 million respectively.

The High Court has recently held that a former employee of a construction company, which was in liquidation, had no reasonable cause of action against the company’s insurer. This was despite the fact that he had obtained judgment for negligence against the employer and the insurance policy covered the employer for such a claim in negligence.

The high profile liquidation of Custom House Capital Limited (In Liquidation) continued in 2012. Following a successful exercise to reconcile and confirm the position regarding certain client assets, the liquidator of the company proposed applying a fee of 0.5% when transferring the assets to clients to cover the costs of the reconciliation exercise.

Amantiss Enterprises Limited and Wilbury Limited were placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation in 1994. Following the appointment of a liquidator, proceedings were issued by the two companies, together with a third company, Framus Limited, against a multitude of defendants including CRH plc, Readymix plc and Kilsaran Concrete Products Limited, alleging breaches of competition law.

In two cases decided towards the end of 2012, the High Court applied reductions to the hourly charge out rate of staff members employed by the liquidator who had been promoted during the course of the liquidation.