The Commercial Court has been asked to resolve a dispute over the ownership of Dublin property assets involving the sale of shares in Bad Ass Café, the purchase of Delaney's pub in Smithfield and ownership of a property in Gardiner Street/Mabbot Lane.
Businesswoman Marina Valera claims her former business partner Paul Tiernan, is asserting "some form of beneficial interest" over the assets in what she says represents an opportunistic attempt to leverage her and her companies into making a payment to him.
Ms Valera, who also says she was romantically involved with Mr Tiernan between 2008 and 2011, has brought proceedings which she says are to clarify who owns the properties and assets. She says Mr Tiernan enjoys no right, title or interest over the assets.
Her case was admitted to the Commercial Court on Monday by Mr Justice Denis McDonald on consent between the parties. The court heard Mr Tiernan strongly disputes her claims.
The judge also welcomed that the parties are to try to settle the matter by mediation, and he adjourned it to next month.
The case is brought by Ms Valera, of Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin, Laupteen Ltd, Femida Ltd and Blackhill Resources Ltd against Mr Tiernan of Churchfields, K-Club, Straffan, Co Kildare.
Ms Valera said, in an affidavit, that in pre-action correspondence, Mr Tiernan appeared to be claiming a beneficial interest in the Gardiner Street property, which was run as a B&B/hostel. She said it was previously owned by him through the Laupteen company until shares in that firm were transferred to her and a lease was created over the property.
She said that from October 2010, Mr Tiernan enjoyed no economic interest in that B&B business which she said she "worked tirelessly" to develop.
She transferred her shareholding in Laupteen in 2028 to Femida, which she owned outright, and the following year transferred that shareholding to Blackhill which she became 97.5pc shareholder of.
It is proposed that a sale by Blackhill of the shares in Femida will take place within six to eight weeks and will raise more than €6.2 million. She said Mr Tiernan's assertion of a beneficial interest has the potential to derail that share sale.
Ms Valera said she also had a 50pc interest in Benqueues Ltd, which owned and operated the Bad Ass Café in Temple Bar. She and her fellow shareholder recently sold their shares in Benqueues for €1.9 million.
She said it is difficult to understand how Mr Tiernan can plausibly assert a right or entitlement to a share of those proceeds.She said it is also "difficult to credit" his claim of a beneficial interest in another firm, NCR Investments, whose principal asset is a right under contract to purchase Delaney's of Smithfield.
The vendor has been paid a €73,500 deposit on the €766,000 sale price but has refused to complete and NCR has brought specific performance proceedings over this, she said.
In letters from Mr Tiernan's lawyers, he has asserted that in 2009/10, they (Valera and Tiernan) reached an agreement to hare equally profits from the business of Laupteen. He also claimed that all Ms Valera's shares in the Bad Ass Café were held on truest for him.
She said she "utterly rejects" his claim that the two of them are party to some "loose profit share agreement" or that she holds any of her shares on trust for him.
