DUBLIN BUSINESSMAN John Morrissey has claimed before the Commercial Court he cannot repay some €35.8 million loans to Anglo Irish Bank because of its own conduct in the collapse the property market and economy.

Mr Morrissey, Palmerston Road, Ranelagh, Dublin, claims Anglo was “inextricably linked” at all material times and in many ways with the adverse market conditions that have afflicted the property and financing markets in recent years.

Brian Dempsey SC urged Mr Justice Peter Kelly to refuse summary judgment for €35.8 million against Mr Morrissey and instead allow him to defend the claim in plenary proceedings.

The collapse of Mr Morrissey’s affairs was “so gross” he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, Mr Dempsey said. That was the reality of the lives of people whose lives were so turned up by institutions seeking to recover debt without regard for the human cost.

Rossa Fanning, for Anglo, argued that the bank was entitled to call in its loans that Mr Morrissey had received and had had the use of the monies sought.

The bank was being accused of “some form of amorphous wrongdoing” but it was unclear what case was being advanced disentitling the bank to its loans monies, Mr Fanning said.

The loans were due for repayment in July 2009 and Anglo viewed them as impaired because of the diminished value of the properties provided as security, Mr Fanning added.

Mr Morrissey could have been in no doubt since July 2009 that his position was precarious but seemed to be “blaming all his ills”, on Anglo.

In his ruling refusing summary judgment, Mr Justice Kelly said, before granting summary judgment, that he had to be satisfied Mr Morrissey had advanced no statutable defence and, in this case, he was not so satisfied.