The chairman of the board of Radio Limerick One Ltd, which has been struck off the register of companies, has taken High Court proceedings against the company and its chief executive.
In proceedings under the Companies Acts, Mr Liam Woulfe wants an order compelling Mr Gerard Madden to buy out his shareholding at a price to be determined by the court. He is also seeking damages for alleged breach of duties owed to him by Mr Madden.
Mr Woulfe claims the affairs of the company have been, and are still being, conducted in a manner oppressive to him.
The action opened yesterday before Mr Justice Kelly and is expected to last ten days. Mr Woulfe claims he and Mr Madden became shareholders in the company about 1992 and members of the board of directors in September 1992.
Mr Madden became chief executive in September 1992, while Mr Woulfe became chairman of the board. He holds 24 per cent of the issued share capital in the company. Mr Woulfe said the registered shareholding of the company does not reflect the true beneficial ownership of the company's issued share capital and Mr Madden was the true beneficial owner of many of the other issued shares so as to give him control of a majority shareholding.
Among several claims, Mr Woulfe says the company, at the behest of and under the control of Mr Madden, committed serious and/or repeated breaches of its obligations under a contract between it and the Independent Radio and Television Commission of August 1989 for a broadcast licence for Limerick city and county.
In March 1996, the IRTC terminated that contract and the decision was upheld by the High Court.
He claims the respondents failed to deal properly with the concerns of the IRTC and adopted a confrontational attitude which led, in part, to the termination of the contract. The respondents deny the claims.