The proprietor of a Dublin car sales firm has been told by a judge to compensate the former live-in lover he "constructively dismissed" in a bid to rebuild his marriage.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne heard in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that Mr Pat White, who owns White Bishop Motors Ltd with his wife, Rita, bought an apartment for himself and his accounts manager Ms Jacintha McDonnell.
Ms McDonnell, of Dunmore Lawns, Ballymount, Dublin, told her counsel, Mr Richard Humphreys, they had lived happily together in an apartment until Mr White learned his wife was threatening to take half the company off him. Shortly after having been told to leave the apartment and having learned from Mr White she would have to quit her job when his wife came back into the business, she had two nervous breakdowns.
She claimed Mr White had promised her a Jeep worth €18,000 and a financial settlement. Ms McDonnell said they had started going out together and in 1997 she moved into an apartment he bought in Royston Manor.
In November 1998 he had moved in with her. But at a later stage Mrs White was threatening to take half the company off him. He had told her he was going back to his wife and she would have to leave the company. On June 19th, 2000 Ms McDonnell left a "resignation" note and quit her job.
Mr White told the court he reconciled with his wife around July 2000 and had moved back into the family home that Christmas.
Judge Dunne said Ms McDonnell had made out a case for constructive dismissal and she was entitled to the value of the Jeep, estimated between €14,000 and €18,000, and a monetary sum of €12,000. She adjourned a final decree until today.