Pensioner who lost case about golf handicap faces legal costs of €500,000

A pensioner who lost a case about his golf handicap — which lasted 83 days in the High and Supreme Courts — has been ordered to pay the massive legal costs of the action.

Thomas Talbot (76) suggested the bill could be some €500,000 but legal sources speculated it may be significantly more.

Mr Talbot said the costs would have been avoided if lawyers “had paid me the money they are charging”.

The retired insurance official earlier this month lost an action in which he alleged defamation and conspiracy against the Hermitage Golf Club in Lucan, Dublin, one of its officers, Eddie Murphy, and against the Golfing Union of Ireland. He claimed a certificate sent to him in 2003 by the club's handicap sub-committee, stating his handicap was 13, with the words "General Play (Handicap Building)", meant he was cheating.

The claims were denied. Earlier this month, in rejecting Mr Talbot’s appeal against a July 2012 High Court decision against him, the Supreme Court said this case ran for 83 days over what was a “simple” matter.

The Chief Justice, Mrs justice Susan Denham, urged improved judicial management of cases to ensure the best possible use of court resources.

Yesterday, when the case returned to the court to deal with ancillary matters, counsel for the defendants applied for their costs in the Supreme and High Courts.

In a prepared reply, Mr Talbot, who has represented himself, continued to dispute the issues in the case.

In response to the Chief Justice’s recommendation about better case management, he argued it was lawyers for the defendants who had been “time wasting” and not him.

The solution to this issue of “long disputation” was for the half million in costs being charged by lawyers in the case to be paid to him, he said.

The Chief Justice said the general rule that “costs follow the event” — go to the winning side — applied here and the court saw no reason to depart from it.