Shelbourne Developments loses long-running battle
The High Court has declared that Keelgrove Properties Limited is the lawful owner of a site in central Dublin on the Moore Street side of a substantial redevlopment project.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan was giving judgment in a dispute over a plot of ground formerly the site of 30 Moore Street. The dispute involved Shelbourne Developments, which claimed it acquired the site through "adverse possession", and Keelgrove Properties Ltd, a subsidiary of Treasury Holdings, which asserted it was the lawful owner.
In 1997 the site was assigned to Keelgrove. Shelbourne claimed it and its predecessors in title had for upwards of 12 years before the commencement of the High Court proceedings been in undisturbed possession of the site to the exclusion of Keelgrove.
It argued Keelgrove's title to the lands was barred and extinguished prior to the High Court proceedings and sought a declaration that it was the owner of the lands by adverse possession.
Mr Justice Gilligan reviewed the history of properties in the Parnell Street/Moore Street area and a decision of Dublin Corporaration in the 1970s to widen Parnell Street. Houses were demolished and one of the property owners, Mr Daniel Sullivan (he owned the rear of 59 Parnell Street), ran the large flattened site as a car park. That site included number 30 but Mr Sullivan had acknowledged he had no claim over that property.
Mr Sullivan had accepted that around 1997 all the property owners affected were negotiating sale of their properties and that two potential buyers were Keelgrove and Shelbourne.
In June 1997, Mr Sullivan sold his interest in the rear of 59 Parnell Street to Shelbourne. After he left a company called Kekerberry managed the car park on behalf of Shelbourne.
Mr Justice Gilligan said Shelbourne began to develop the very substantial site which they had put together bounded by Parnell Street, Moore Street and O'Rahilly Parade except for the site at number 30 which now represented what the judge said could only be described as "a missing front tooth" on the Moore Street side of the development.
A Kekerberry representative, who claimed to be the only one who had keys to the car park site, which included number 30 did not dispute that a Keelgrove representative may have walked the site every now and again and that the number 30 area was cordoned off a couple of times.
To assess whether Kekerberry played any meaningful role in relation to the possession of No 30, the court had to be satisfied that Mr Sullivan had adversely possessed the site from June 1989 through to the sale of his land in 1997. The judge held there was no question of Mr Sullivan's usage of number 30 being "adverse possession" and declared that Keelgrove Properties was the lawful owner.
