The Commercial Court has fixed hearing dates later this month in the long-running Defective Blocks legal case led by Coleman Legal, with Defective Blocks Ireland describing it as an important step towards breaking the delays that have stalled a critical element of the case.
Justice Eileen Roberts expressed concern that procedural motions relating to expert testing have been before the court for too long, and fixed a two-day hearing for July 21st and 22nd to determine the outstanding motions concerning the testing of rock samples taken from a Quarry in Donegal
During the hearing, John Gordon SC, representing the homeowners, told the Court that the dispute centres on a single but crucial issue.
He said experts at the Danish Technological Institute (DTI), who are carrying out independent testing of quarry samples, have been unable to complete their work because they have been waiting for eight to nine months for the National Standards Authority of Ireland’s expert to provide a clear methodology for a specialised element of the testing process.
Mr Gordon told the Court that without this methodology, the testing process has reached an impasse, preventing experts from completing work that is essential to proving the source of the defective building materials, and his issue has become a significant obstacle to progressing the litigation.
He further told the Court that repeated meetings between experts over many months had failed to resolve the problem because the requested methodology had still not been produced.
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DBI statement in full –
High Court Moves to End Delays in Defective Blocks Litigation as Judge Fixes Hearing Dates
Dublin, July 7th – Defective Blocks Ireland (DBI) has welcomed a decision by the Commercial Court
yesterday to fix hearing dates later this month in the long-running Defective Blocks legal case led by
Coleman Legal, describing it as an important step towards breaking the delays that have stalled a critical
element of the case.
At yesterday’s hearing Justice Eileen Roberts, expressed her concern that procedural motions relating to
expert testing had been before the Commercial Court for too long and indicated that the legal case now
requires greater focus and progress.
The Judge fixed a two-day hearing for 21 and 22 July to determine the outstanding motions concerning
the testing of rock samples taken from Gransha Quarry, material which is central to establishing the
cause of the deterioration of thousands of defective homes in Donegal.
Ms Justice Roberts acknowledged that the motions had been "bouncing around" for too long and made
clear that she did not want the litigation to continue drifting without resolution. In allocating hearing
dates, Ms Justice Roberts stated that if the Court did not intervene, the matter would simply "trundle
on", adding that it was important that at least some of the outstanding issues were now resolved.
During the hearing, John Gordon SC, representing the homeowners, told the Court that the dispute
centres on a single but crucial issue.
He said experts at the Danish Technological Institute (DTI), who are carrying out independent testing of
quarry samples, have been unable to complete their work because they have been waiting for eight to
nine months for the National Standards Authority of Ireland's expert to provide a clear methodology for
a specialised element of the testing process.
Mr Gordon told the Court that without this methodology, the testing process has reached an impasse,
preventing experts from completing work that is essential to proving the source of the defective building
materials. He argued that this issue has become a significant obstacle to progressing the litigation.
Mr Gordon also rejected suggestions that disagreements over testing protocols were responsible for the
delays. He described that argument as "a total red herring", maintaining that the central issue remains
the failure to provide the methodology requested by DTI. He further told the Court that repeated
meetings between experts over many months had failed to resolve the problem because the requested
methodology had still not been produced.
