The Duddy Hospitality Group has asked the High Court for an injunction seeking to restrain the purported sale of a Dublin hotel which is at the centre of an ongoing legal dispute.
The IBIS Red Cow Hotel is one of several assets at the centre of a row between the Duddy group and the UK-based Propiteer Group over an alleged breach of an agreement to divide up the assets of joint ventures they had owned.
In the latest application in an ongoing dispute between the parties the Duddy group seeks orders preventing receivers it claims were wrongfully appointed over the Hotel by the defendants, from selling the business.
The Duddy group claims that last month the receivers issued it with a 30-day notice of their intention to sell the IBIS hotel.
That notice is due to expire on Friday, December 8th, it is claimed, and the Duddy group says any sale prior to the resolution of the overall action would be damaging to their claims.
Earlier this year, Duddy Hospitality Ireland Holdings Limited, Brendan Duddy and Lawrence Duddy, which are all part of the Duddy group, commenced proceedings against Propiteer Ireland Holdings Limited, DADAC Ltd, Propiteer Ltd, Colin Sandy David Marshall , which are all part of the Propiteer group.
The Duddy group further seeks orders preventing insolvency practitioners Ken Fennell and Andrew O'Leary of Interpath Ireland, who were appointed as receivers by the defendants last March, from acting as receivers of the hotel.
The two groups had allegedly been partners in several joint ventures, including the hotel, a hotel in Exeter, England, and developments in Dublin and Belfast.
After differences emerged between them in 2019, it was decided to divide up the shared assets and go their separate ways.
It is claimed that in 2020 the two groups entered into settlement agreements regarding the various jointly held assets.
The Duddy group claims that as part of those arrangements it would get ownership and control of the IBIS Red Cow Hotel and related companies.
However, it claims that the Propiteer group breached the settlement agreements resulting in the Duddy group seeking various injunctions against the defendants.
The claims of wrongdoing are denied.
A mediation failed to resolve the row and High Court is yet to determine the case.
On Wednesday, Duddy group returned before the High Court seeking orders preventing the hotel's sale.
The Duddy group claims that the receivers had initially said that the hotel would not be sold in the "short term" and it was hoped that the case could have been determined by now.
Last month the receivers gave 30 days notice of their intention to sell, and that period expires this Friday.
The Duddy group claims that getting control of the hotel is one of the main objectives of their action and that any sale would "severely undermine" the value of the reliefs they seek.
The Duddy group also claims that every effort was made by it to avoid having to seek an injunction restraining the sale.
"Little prejudice" would be caused by a deferral of any purported sale, the Duddy Group further claims.
Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy, on an ex-parte basis, granted permission to serve short notice of the injunction proceedings on the defendants.
The application will return before the court on Thursday.
All of the defendants deny any wrongdoing.
