Lawyers representing John Magnier claim that Maurice Regan, the American property magnate, is providing financial support to the owners of the Barn estate, defending them against a High Court claim brought by the Coolmore Stud billionaire.
The legal proceedings against Mr Magnier centre on the allegation that the owners of the Barn estate backed out of a proposed deal for him to buy 751 acres of land for €15 million and instead decided to sell it to Mr Regan for a higher price.
Paul Gallagher, the lead prosecutor representing Mr Magnier, also said on Friday that newly uncovered documents showed Mr Regan had “intimidated and threatened” the custodians of the County Tipperary estate and instigated a breach of an exclusivity agreement that the plaintiffs said came into force after the alleged deal.
All the allegations were denied. Martin Hayden, the lead prosecutor representing the defendants, said the allegation that Mr Regan had funded the proceedings was “outrageous” and no evidence had been presented to the court to support the claim.
A hearing between Mr Magnier and the owners of the Barn estate was due to begin on Thursday.
But on Friday, Judge Michael Quinn adjourned the case for several weeks to give the defendants a chance to correct what he called an “incomplete and grossly inadequate” filing.
Mr Magnier – along with his adult children John Paul Magnier and Kate Wachman – is seeking to see the proposed €15 million deal through.
They claim the deal was reached at a meeting on 22 August 2023 at Mr Magnier's Coolmore Stud. They also point out that an exclusivity agreement, which prohibited its representatives from seeking or encouraging offers for the property from anyone other than Mr Magnier, was in effect from 31 August to 30 September.
The Barne Estate is owned by a Jersey trust and is owned by Richard Thomson-Moore, his sister Alexandra, their children and spouses.
The Magniers have brought a claim against the Barne Estate, Mr Thomson-Moore and three IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd companies in an attempt to enforce the proposed deal.
The Barne defendants claim no such agreement ever existed and subsequently agreed to sell it for €22.5 million to Mr. Regan, the founder of New York-based construction company JT Magen. Mr. Regan is not a party to the case.
On Friday, chief prosecutor Paul Gallagher, representing Mr. Magnier, said the defendants had refused to provide information in response to requests about Mr. Regan, whom Mr. Gallagher described as a “dark force” allegedly funding the case.
“We have repeatedly requested confirmation that Mr. Regan is funding this litigation,” Mr. Gallagher said.
Martin Hayden, the lead judge for the defendants, said he did not need to delve into Mr Gallagher's allegations. He said that if Mr Gallagher had had “even the remotest idea” that the litigation was being funded by a non-party, he was “absolutely confident that, with the resources at his disposal, we would have filed a motion to dismiss [the litigation].”
Mr Gallagher also noted that a 60-page document written by John Stokes, a Tipperary estate agent who attended the meeting at Coolmore Stud in August 2023, not only sets out the terms of the property deal, as Mr Magnier alleges, but also shows that Mr Regan engineered a breach of the exclusivity agreement.
He also alleged that the “passing note” – previously the subject of an improper claim of privilege by the defendant – contained evidence that Mr Regan had “bullied and threatened” Mr Stokes and had also threatened other Barne Estate trustees.
In response, Mr. Hayden said that if Mr. Magnier believed he had a case against Mr. Regan for breach of exclusivity, “given the level of resources and representation he has, he would have sued Mr. Regan.”
“Instead, we are putting this accusation out in the open for all to see,”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
