Former investment firm employee claims 'sham' redundancy in profit-share row
A former private investment management firm employee claims in a High Court action he is entitled to a 10% share of his employer's profits in a Dublin commercial property fund.
John Daly has brought proceedings against Dublin-based Ardstone Capital which also has offices in the UK, Germany and Spain, claiming he was subjected to a sham redundancy with a view to denying him his entitlement.
Ardstone denies his claims and has counterclaimed that Mr Daly unlawfully took information concerning its business.
Today, the High Court made orders for further and better discovery of documents in the case in preparation for the trial.
Mr Daly claims that entitlement arises out of Ardstone's profit from a commercial investment known as the "Added Value Fund" (AVP) which was set up in 2013 and involved seven large commercial properties in Dublin. It involved the acquisition, improvement and selling on the properties at a profit.
Mr Daly claims Ardstone would typically receive 20% of the AVP profits
He began working with Ardstone in September 2013 and says during the interview process for the job he was offered a 5% entitlement to the company's profit from the AVP on selling of its final asset.
He says that 5% was upped to 10% following a lunch meeting in July 2015. However, a year later his employment was terminated.
He claims this was a sham redundancy to deny him the 10%.
In his proceedings, he seeks declarations that he has such an entitlement and damages for breach of contract, breach of duty and misrepresentation.
Ardstone denies there was any agreement to grant Mr Daly the interest he claims.
It says the fund did not even exist when he began working for the company.
It says that in 2015 Mr Daly expressed dissatisfaction with an increase in salary he had been offered. They say he then sought 10% of the AVP profits not on the basis of any alleged prior representation but because he felt he deserved it.
In 2018, the High Court made discovery of document orders but Mr Daly then brought an application claiming the defendant's discovery remained deficient.
Court of Appeal judge, Mr Justice Brian Murray, sitting as a High Court judge, today ordered Ardstone to make further and better discovery of certain documents.
