THE court case between the wife of missing solicitor Michael Lynn and ACC Bank was settled out of court last week.
Ms Brid Murphy claimed that she was entitled to 50 per cent of the proceeds of the sale of the house she bought with her husband and that ACC Bank did not have a prior entitlement to the money. The settlement with the bank means Ms Murphy is unlikely to receive more than around €450,000 from the proceeds of the sale of the house in Howth.
Glenlion House was bought in October 2006 for €5.5m and sold earlier this year by order of the High Court for €4.9m. Whether or not she receives any money at all depends on the outcome of another court action being brought against her by another bank.
Ms Murphy, who was originally facing three court actions from three banks for a total of €11m, is now facing just one more court case from Bank of Scotland Ireland who are trying to recover €3.8m. Three banks, Irish Nationwide, ACC and Bank of Scotland Ireland, granted loans to Mr Lynn for the house.
However, Ms Murphy claimed she was aware only of the Bank of Scotland Ireland mortgage.
Irish Nationwide has withdrawn its claim against Ms Murphy while Bank of Scotland Ireland is taking a separate action against her. The court heard last week that Ms Murphy is claiming Bank of Scotland Ireland was negligent and should have carried out inquiries before granting the loan. She also said that if Bank of Scotland Ireland is entitled to any money from her, the extent of her liability would only be any money she receives in the proceedings before the court.
Ms Murphy told the court last week she was still in touch with her husband and had seen him a week previously in Sofia in Bulgaria before he went on to Portugal.
