A campaigner against repossessions has agreed before the High Court not to interfere again with two property repossessions.
Charlie Allen of the Rodolphus Allen Private Family Trust, which has claimed an interest in the two properties, yesterday purged his contempt of court order and apologised in relation to a protest at a stud farm in Co Kildare.
He also agreed to abide by an injunction preventing him from interfering with a receiver about to sell another property in Cork city.
Mr Justice Seán Ryan said he would not impose a penalty for the contempt but Mr Allen must pay the costs of the receivers in both cases. He said there was nothing to justify Mr Allen “purporting to claim an interest” in the Cork property.
Mr Allen’s organisation had issued two notices in relation to the Cork property, Lotamore House in Tivoli, one described as “a notice of fraud and barratry”, the other described as a “notice of dishonour”, the court was told.
These notices were described by Rossa Fanning, for the receiver, as “legally incomprehensible” and impossible to defend.
Application rejected
Mr Justice Ryan rejected an application by Gabriel Haughton, for Mr Allen, not to impose the costs of the injunction on his client.
Mr Haughton argued that the receiver should have told the proposed purchaser of Lotamore House of the Allen notices in which circumstances the contract of sale may not have been signed. The receiver would then not have had to seek the injunction, he added.
Mr Justice Ryan said that had the receiver done that, the sale may not have gone ahead, which appeared to be the purpose of these notices.
They may have been served to give “some colourable justification” to unlawful trespass but it should be perfectly obvious, to lawyers or otherwise, that they did not convince anybody.
It may also be the notices were being used to intimidate people into believing there was some justification for acting on them, the judge added.