Irish hotelier and developer Paddy McKillen has been ordered to pay the bulk of the costs after he lost a claim last month in the UK for just under €4.5 million (£3.69million) for his role in developing one of London’s largest private homes for the former prime minister of Qatar.
However, the Irish developer has lodged an appeal to the February court ruling.
Mr McKillen lost his claim last month in one of a string of court cases between Belfast-born tycoon and the Qatari-owned Maybourne luxury hotel group across the US, UK, Ireland and France.
At the time, the 70-year-old vowed to appeal the judge’s ruling for his role in developing Forbes House in Belgravia for Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who is also known informally by his initials HBJ.
Lawyers for Mr McKillen’s Hume Street Management Consultants Limited (HSMC) said papers had been lodged yesterday with the Court of Appeal asking the court for permission to appeal. That appeal has yet to be determined.
In the original ruling concerning the Forbes House dispute, judge Adrian Williamson KC said he had concluded that HSMC had “failed ... to show that there is a serious issue to be tried on the merits of the claim ...”
He said HSMC had done “little more than assert that there is a contractual claim” and had not met the requirements to plead an oral contract or a contract made by conduct.
Mr McKillen’s lawyers immediately said after last month’s ruling that they intended to appeal. “HSMC and Mr Patrick McKillen are committed to pursuing payment for the substantial redevelopment work undertaken for HBJ,” his lawyer Quinn Emanuel said.
His legal team claimed HBJ “is seeking to avoid or delay payment for the huge benefit he received through a series of procedural objections rather than facing up to his obligations”.
They added: “Despite Mr McKillen bringing decades of experience and trusted contractors together to make the project a reality, HBJ and his corporate vehicles refused to pay.... ”
They said the case “represents the latest attempt by HBJ to delay, obfuscate, and ultimately avoid his legal liabilities to HSMC/Mr McKillen”.
However, in a formal process called a consequential order, Adrian Williamson KC, sitting as deputy judge of the High Court, dismissed Mr McKillen’s grounds for appeal and ordered the developer to pay 75 per cent of the sheikh’s legal costs – £112,500.
That order does not affect HSMC’s ability to formally appeal the ruling.
Forbes House in Belgravia was bought in 2015 by the sheikh from the Barclay brothers.
In 2022 McKillen fell out with the Qatari owners of the Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns a number of luxury hotels such as Claridge’s and the Connaught in London, a hotel in Beverly Hills, and one in France’s Cote d’Azur.
