An appeal to have the trial date of a long running defamation case between a Tipperary solicitor and accountant postponed has been rejected.
The current President of the Law Society Maura Derivan and her husband are defending an alleged defamation of character claim brought against by local accountant Bobby Fitzgerald.
This action was first launched against the Derivan’s by Bobby Fitzgerald, a chartered accountant, and head partner of Fitzgerald Fleming Long, Carrick-on-Suir, in 2009.
Mr. Fitzgerald is suing for €50,000 in damages.
The couple, who practice as Derivan Sexton and Co, Solicitors., in an earlier application were criticized for attempting to frustrate the hearing of the action against them.
The most recent update Ms.Derivan asked Judge John O’Connor in the Circuit Civil Court to have a trial date postponed because it clashed with a conference in Paris, she felt she had to attend in her official capacity.
Responding to the request regarding the 14-year-old defamation case he said this had been mentioned in courts 24 or 25 times, telling their team “This case cannot continue in this fashion any longer.”
In this latest bid to postpone the hearing until after November 11, Ms Derivan’s last day as Law Society President, solicitor Neil Breheny for a third defendant, Bernard Brophy previously referred to as the man in the middle between the Derivan’s and Fitzgerald, told the Judge he could think of “another president whose litigation has not brought him before the courts as often as President Derivan.”
Therefore, although clashing with the annual conference of the International Bar Association in the France Judge O’Connor said he would allow the fixed trial dates of the 1st and 2nd of November to remain in place.
