A COUPLE who lost their life savings when bank shares collapsed won them all back in a successful appeal to the Financial Services Ombudsman, the High Court has heard.
However semi-retired veterinary surgeon Patrick Noel Buckley (69) and his wife Helen may face a Supreme Court battle to hang on to their €202,000. The couple’s barrister Seamas Ó Tuathail SC said yesterday a hearing in the Supreme Court could take another three years.
High Court president Mr Justice Nicolas Kearns in July threw out an appeal by AIB against the Ombudsman’s decision directing the bank to pay back the Buckleys the €202,000 they invested in bank shares on AIB’s advice.
Yesterday in the High Court, Mr Justice Kearns refused AIB leave to appeal his ruling to the Supreme Court. The bank is considering asking the Supreme Court itself to rule that it should hear an appeal of Mr Justice Kearns’s refusal on a point of law.
Financial Services Ombudsman Joe Meade last year heard that Mr Buckley, Station Road, Carrigaline, Co Cork, sold his main veterinary practice for “the greater part” of €200,000. He and his wife wanted to invest it to help pay their son’s annual veterinary college fees and expenses of €40,000. They met AIB officials in its South Mall branch in Cork in August 2008 to discuss interest rates.
They claimed an AIB consultant advised them to invest their money in bank shares so they invested €101,000 in AIB shares and €101,000 in Bank of Ireland shares. Within months, the shares fell to under 20 per cent of their original value.
An appeal was made to the Ombudsman who found negligence on AIB’s part and directed it to pay them back their losses. This was appealed by AIB to the High Court and dismissed by Mr Justice Kearns, whose decision may yet go before the Supreme Court.
The court heard the bank’s main defence was that Mr Buckley was an experienced investor and he and his wife signed a share-dealing application form, stating they had “not required and have not received any advice in respect of these transactions and acknowledge that investments can fall as well as rise”.
The Buckleys claimed they received specific advice from AIB and that the application form statement had not been brought to their attention.
In his judgment upholding the Ombudsman’s ruling, Mr Justice Kearns said it was a shame and a great pity that so many appeals of the Financial Services Ombudsman were coming to the High Court. The legislation had devised a scheme for the informal, speedy and efficient disposal of disputes that arose when dealings between consumers and banks went awry.