Mr James Gogarty got into a "fire of rage" and physically went for Mr Michael Bailey with his umbrella in 1988 when the developer said he had been gazumped in a land deal, the tribunal was told.
Mr Bailey referred to the sale of 20 acres of land to him at Forest Road, owned by the Murphys in north Co Dublin. He believed he had a deal in the summer of 1988 but then was told there was another offer.
"I said to Mr Gogarty `I can't trust you. You're after gazumping me. We stuck our hands out and agreed on the deal' and he got into a fire of rage. There were two witnesses there that can identify this. He had an umbrella in his hand in Kevin Smith's [solicitor] office. . . and he actually went for me with the umbrella, I mean, physically went for me with the umbrella," Mr Bailey told the tribunal.
He had been asked about the lands and said he thought there was a big mix-up. He would like to explain and put the sale of the Forest Road lands in context.
It started with the letter of offer from his solicitors, Smith Foy, to Mr Denis McArdle, the Murphys' solicitor, of June 24th, 1988. It set out the proposal to Grafton Construction in which the offer was being made for £1.25 million on a phased basis.
The kernel was in the paragraph which stated that all financial contributions and levies in respect of services and open spaces were to be discharged by the vendor. "That was our offer, £1.25 million, and it eventually ended up, £1.45 million, including the bill of £122,460 [the levy] being discharged by the vendor's company," he said.
The reason the property cost £1.45 million was very simple, he said. They made their offer of £1.25 million, including levies. They then had further negotiations and increased their offer to £1.3 million in the presence of Mr McArdle, Mr Kevin Smith and Mr Gogarty. They shook hands on the deal in Smith Foy's office.
A few days went by and there was a call from Mr McArdle to Mr Smith and they in goodwill believed they had the deal done. Mr McArdle reluctantly said to Mr Smith that there was another offer. They had a meeting at Mr Smith's office, also attended by Mr McArdle, Mr Gogarty and himself.
After Mr Gogarty went for him with the umbrella, he walked out of the office and downstairs. Mr Smith came after him and said if he wanted to do the deal, it would cost him another £150,000.
"To this day I was never as upset as I was because I believed that I had a deal done. They reneged on the deal and I was given the option of doing the deal for £1.45 million or else lose the deal," he said.
He advised Mr Smith to go upstairs again and do the deal. That was how it ended up £1.45 million with no stage payments, no separation of payments, a straightforward payment to close in three or four months. This included the payment and responsibility for the betterment levy, Mr Bailey said.