A couple who claimed they were not aware they had been participants in an unsuccessful legal action and got a bill for £66,000 legal fees from the Independent Radio and Television Commission have been told by the High Court they are entitled to recover damages from a Limerick firm of solicitors and a radio station owner for the "very substantial distress" they suffered.
Michael and Wendy Richardson, Castleconnell, Co Limerick, were threatened with bankruptcy when they failed to pay the £66,000 bill. They brought their action against Gerard Madden, described as owner of a Limerick radio station, and against the Limerick solicitors' firm of Dermot G O'Donovan and Partners.
The Richardsons claimed Mr Madden agreed to indemnify them in relation to costs incurred in High Court judicial review proceedings heard in 1997 and also claimed they told the solicitors' firm they did not wish to proceed with the 1997 proceedings.
They alleged the solicitors' firm failed to act on those instructions, resulting in a situation where they ended up personally being ordered to pay £66,078, together with interest.
In a reserved judgment, Mr Justice John Quirke said Mr Madden and the solicitors' firm were liable, jointly and severally, to discharge costs in the amount of €88,902 together with interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum from July 1997. The Richardsons were also entitled to costs incurred in bankruptcy proceedings.