The High Court has decided Lancefort Company Ltd, a company of conservationists, should be allowed pursue an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against a Supreme Court decision that it had no legal standing to challenge a hotel and office development in central Dublin.
Adjourning a petition yesterday for the winding up of Lancefort, Ms Justice Carroll said putting Lancefort into liquidation when it had no assets would realise no money to pay creditors but would have the effect of stopping Lancefort's appeal to the ECHR, if that appeal was still in existence.
She adjourned the matter to December 17th so the court might be informed of the status of the European proceedings. The petition for the winding up of Lancefort was brought by Treasury Holdings Limited, of Lower Grand Canal Street, Dublin. Treasury claimed Lancefort owed it some £23,000 arising from the latter's unsuccessful legal challenge to Treasury's development in central Dublin and that Lancefort was unable to pay that debt.
The lengthy legal proceedings taken by Lancefort in relation to the Treasury development led to a Supreme Court decision in July 1998 that Lancefort did not have locus standi to challenge the development. The court later ordered Lancefort to pay Treasury's costs.