Four cases brought by minority shareholders in Web Summit are almost akin to “one main dispute” and should be heard before a “smaller” action brought by the tech conference firm and its chief executive Paddy Cosgrave, a High Court judge has said.
Mr Justice Michael Twomey made the decision as part of his management of the five cases involving Web Summit ahead of their hearing next spring.
The parties had already agreed all of the suits will be heard during one nine-week trial beginning on March 18th, with an outline of each taking up the first week. They disagreed over what should be heard next, with each side arguing their own case should be aired before that of their opponents’.
The case brought by Web Summit and Mr Cosgrave was issued six weeks before any of the others. It alleges David Kelly, who owns a 12 per cent stake, breached his fiduciary duties as a director of the company.
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Mr Kelly and 7 per cent shareholder Daire Hickey, who both cofounded Web Summit with Mr Cosgrave, each have two separate but similar actions against the company and Mr Cosgrave alleging oppression of their minority shareholder rights and breach of an alleged profit share agreement.
The claims in all five of the cases are robustly denied.
On Wednesday, Mr Justice Twomey said he would view the four minority shareholder cases as one “main dispute”, while the action alleging Mr Kelly breached his fiduciary duties is smaller, covering just four months in 2021. He said the minority shareholders’ cases are “inextricably linked” and relate to matters spanning 2010 to 2024.
He understood Web Summit’s and Mr Cosgrave’s arguments for hearing their action first, but he felt it was more suitable to hear this after “what I would describe as the main dispute”.
Following his ruling, Derek Shortall, a senior counsel for Web Summit and Mr Cosgrave, asked for the legal costs of the row about the running order to be dealt with later as part of the wider legal costs of the cases. Lawyers for the other sides agreed.
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