Business magnate John Magnier is eager to see the High Court set a hearing date for the case he brought against the owners of Tipperary’s 751ac Barne Estate to get proceedings well and truly under way.
Before the court on Monday, Justice Denis McDonald noted that the case’s plaintiffs had indicated that getting a hearing date set is a matter of “considerable urgency” to them.
The plaintiffs are Magnier, his son John Paul Magnier and daughter Katherine Wachman.
The three took legal action after they claimed that Barne Estate reneged on an agreement reached with Richard Thompson Moore in August 2023 which would have allegedly allowed Magnier to purchase the estate for €15m.
Representatives of the Thompson Moore family, owners of the estate, deny that this was the case.
They have also argued that Magnier slandered the title of the property and that this resulted in loss and damage to their estate, moving last year to counter-sue Magnier for €22.5m in damages.
In December, US-based construction giant Maurice Regan agreed to buy the property in a deal thought to be worth €20m-plus.
Discovery of documents
The High Court heard on Monday that affidavits on the discovery of documents were exchanged between the Coolmore and Barne legal teams last week, with both sides currently considering these.
It was agreed to adjourn the case for two weeks to grant each side an opportunity to consider the submission they had received and to allow each side to write to one another on the adequacy of the discovery by Wednesday 10 July on the discovery.
A date could be set on when the parties return to the High Court on 15 July.
Magnier’s legal team was granted access to more documents around the sale of the estate than its owners’ lawyers had wanted.
The issue of which documents Magnier’s legal team should be granted access to had emerged as a point of contention when they sought the discovery of all records regarding its sale created over the entirety of 2023.
Barne had only wanted to grant access to documents generated up to mid-October, claiming that the request from Magnier’s team amounted to a “fishing expedition”.
Magnier was granted access to these additional documents they had sought.
Land base
The Magnier family and entities linked to it control almost 10,000ac in Tipperary alone and with a significant chunk of these holdings centred around Coolmore Stud’s base at Fethard in the south of the county.
A Dáil debate on the extent of Magnier’s growing land portfolio had been sought in April by MEP Michael McNamara - who was a sitting TD at the time - but this proposal was shot down by Government parties.
Read more
Magnier family goes to High Court over Barne Estate
Barne Estate: €22.25m damages and €50,000 cash envelopes claims
Coolmore empire: the farms controlled by Magnier family
Dáil votes against debating Coolmore land purchases
Business magnate John Magnier is eager to see the High Court set a hearing date for the case he brought against the owners of Tipperary’s 751ac Barne Estate to get proceedings well and truly under way.
Before the court on Monday, Justice Denis McDonald noted that the case’s plaintiffs had indicated that getting a hearing date set is a matter of “considerable urgency” to them.
The plaintiffs are Magnier, his son John Paul Magnier and daughter Katherine Wachman.
The three took legal action after they claimed that Barne Estate reneged on an agreement reached with Richard Thompson Moore in August 2023 which would have allegedly allowed Magnier to purchase the estate for €15m.
Representatives of the Thompson Moore family, owners of the estate, deny that this was the case.
They have also argued that Magnier slandered the title of the property and that this resulted in loss and damage to their estate, moving last year to counter-sue Magnier for €22.5m in damages.
In December, US-based construction giant Maurice Regan agreed to buy the property in a deal thought to be worth €20m-plus.
Discovery of documents
The High Court heard on Monday that affidavits on the discovery of documents were exchanged between the Coolmore and Barne legal teams last week, with both sides currently considering these.
It was agreed to adjourn the case for two weeks to grant each side an opportunity to consider the submission they had received and to allow each side to write to one another on the adequacy of the discovery by Wednesday 10 July on the discovery.
A date could be set on when the parties return to the High Court on 15 July.
Magnier’s legal team was granted access to more documents around the sale of the estate than its owners’ lawyers had wanted.
The issue of which documents Magnier’s legal team should be granted access to had emerged as a point of contention when they sought the discovery of all records regarding its sale created over the entirety of 2023.
Barne had only wanted to grant access to documents generated up to mid-October, claiming that the request from Magnier’s team amounted to a “fishing expedition”.
Magnier was granted access to these additional documents they had sought.
Land base
The Magnier family and entities linked to it control almost 10,000ac in Tipperary alone and with a significant chunk of these holdings centred around Coolmore Stud’s base at Fethard in the south of the county.
A Dáil debate on the extent of Magnier’s growing land portfolio had been sought in April by MEP Michael McNamara - who was a sitting TD at the time - but this proposal was shot down by Government parties.
Read more
Magnier family goes to High Court over Barne Estate
Barne Estate: €22.25m damages and €50,000 cash envelopes claims
Coolmore empire: the farms controlled by Magnier family
Dáil votes against debating Coolmore land purchases
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: