A MAN HAS failed to secure a High Court injunction compelling his mother and brother to give him access to a scrap metal business which is at the centre of a family dispute.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Roderick Murphy refused to grant Francis Gallagher, Orchard Road, Strabane, Co Tyrone, an injunction against his mother Margaret (79) and his brother Christopher of Post Office Lane, Lifford, Co Donegal.
The judge said that in light of the evidence, he had no alternative but to dismiss the application. In his ruling, Mr Justice Murphy said there was no adequate proof of any partnership or employment agreement between Francis Gallagher and his late father.
Francis Gallagher was seeking an injunction which would have allowed him access to the business set up by his late father Josie, who died suddenly last November. The business adjoins the Gallagher family home in Lifford.
However, in an affidavit to the court his mother said he had nothing to do with the business. Ms Gallagher said that she and her late husband had run the enterprise.
This dispute, the court heard, had resulted in pickets being placed in front of the yard by family members who supported Francis’s claim and which had attracted media attention.
As a result of the dispute, Ms Gallagher had obtained safety orders from the District Court effectively barring several members from the family home.
The court heard yesterday that Mr Gallagher had sought the injunction because he claimed he had been kept out of the business after locks on the premises were changed and was deprived of his livelihood since April.
He claimed he had been working in the family business since 1974 with his late father. He feared that if he was further denied access, that the business would diminish over time.
The court also heard that businesses he had run in Strabane had collapsed due to the current economic climate.
The court heard that there was a total conflict of fact in the case and the parties were irreconcilable from each other. The matter would have to go before the courts for a final determination.
In an affidavit Ms Gallagher said that the business was a salvage yard and not a scrap yard, which she and Josie had worked for many years. She said Francis had nothing to do with the salvage yard and had maintained other business interests for many years.
Ms Gallagher said the injunction application was a further attempt to cause her pain and suffering and that she had not been able to properly mourn her late husband. Francis had only worked the yard in his youth, she added. On occasions he sold materials to Josie, for which he was paid.
The court heard that her son Christopher, who runs a newsagents, and his son Seán had helped out on occasions, but were not paid. The court also heard that Christopher, whose newsagents was also picketed, could not understand why he had been included in the proceedings.
In refusing to grant the injunction, Mr Justice Murphy said that he had not heard sufficient evidence of Francis Gallagher’s involvement in the business.
He was not satisfied that it had been shown that irreparable damage would be done to the business unless the order was granted. Therefore damages could not be shown to be an inadequate remedy and the application could not succeed.