An author claims she has been left with a €2 million debt because of an alleged failure by a law firm to properly supervise her late partner.
Mary Rose Glennon claims Earl Gollogly worked for the Dublin firm, and took out mortgages on their properties without her knowledge.
Ms Glennon, described in her High Court proceedings as a retired copywriter living in Newcastle, Co Wicklow, has sued Hugh J Ward & Co, of Seville Place.
She lived in Newcastle with Mr Gollogly who, she claims, was a partner in HJ Ward and carried out consultancy work for it until December 2006. He died testate on September 12th, 2013.
HJ Ward says her claims are without foundation. It claims Mr Gollogly operated consultancy offices between 2001 and 2006 from his Wicklow home, and only spent a few days a month in the Dublin offices. The firm says Ms Glennon acted as Mr Gollogly’s legal secretary.
It is claimed Ms Glennon is a highly educated author and writer who appeared, on the basis of what she said herself, to have consciously signed documentation which she now says was done without her knowledge. From investigations so far, going back over 10 years, there was no basis for her allegations, it claims.
In a statement of claim Ms Glennon said she and Mr Gollogly owned four properties bought jointly by them in the 1990s. Three of those were in Dublin – a house in Belgrave Square, Ranelagh; a house at Grosvenor Road, Rathmines; and a commercial premises on Camden Street. The fourth property is at Seapoint Court in Bray, Co Wicklow.
Mortgages
She claims Mr Gollogly had in 2005, without her knowledge or consent, got mortgages totalling €750,000 from AIB on the Belgrave Square property. The same year he mortgaged the Camden Street property, again with AIB, for €400,000, she claims.
Ms Glennon also claims that in 2006 Mr Gollogly got €700,000 from Permanent TSB mortgaged on Grosvenor Road and Seapoint. The application for that loan was purportedly on her behalf, his behalf and for his son Cormac Gollogly.
She claims he got a further €1.25 million from PTSB that same year under another mortgage for Grosvenor Road.
In each instance she says she was required to sign documentation by Mr Gollogly but he misrepresented the nature of that to her, and she was unaware of the contents or nature of the documents.
She claims HJ Ward & Co, its servants or agents purported to witness her signature on documents in her absence. She also alleges the monies for the loans were forwarded, following solicitor’s cheque requisitions signed by the law firm, to accounts in Mr Gollogly’s sole name.
Transactions
The transactions were facilitated and/or contributed to by the negligence, breach of duty and misrepresentation on the part of the defendant firm, she alleges.
Ms Glennon says she had no awareness of the transactions until after Mr Gollogly’s death in 2013, and alleges funds from them were used by Mr Gollogly to buy UK property.
AIB has appointed a receiver over the Belgrave Square and Camden Street properties. PTSB requires her to make repayments totalling €2,862 per month on the €2 million outstanding on its loans.