Mayo cattle dealer Finbar Tolan is looking to have the High Court ruling made against him in May 2015 overturned in the Court of Appeal.

However, judgment on the appeal has been postponed twice. The appeal was heard on 18 December 2015, but a judgment was not delivered on this date. Rather, delivery of the judgment was postponed until today, Friday 29 January 2016. However, representatives for both Tolan and Aurivo were contacted on Wednesday 27 January and told that the judgment had again been postponed.

The Court of Appeal said both parties would be notified of a date on which judgment would be delivered in due course.

Ruling

Tolan’s legal action against Aurivo co-op was dismissed in its entirety by the High Court in May last year. Tolan claimed he had a formal contract with the co-op and that their actions in ending their dealings with him three years ago amounted to a breach of contract.

However, in his ruling on the fourth day of the case in the High Court, the president of the High Court, Justice Nicholas Kearns, found that the business relationship between Tolan and the co-op was not governed by any binding legal requirement. The judge dismissed the case and awarded legal costs in favour of Aurivo.

After the ruling was made, Tolan announced his intention to appeal the decision.

Aurivo v Tolan

The stakes in this appeal case are made higher by a separate judgement that went to the Supreme Court last year, in which the High Court ordered Tolan to pay more than €150,000 owed to Aurivo as their relationship deteriorated. The execution of this judgment has been suspended until judgment on Tolan’s appeal is heard.