Dispute between whiskey wholesalers and distillery admitted to Commercial Court
A dispute over a contract to supply whiskey from the John Teeling founded Great Northern Distillery to a wholesaler and its associated distribution company has been admitted to the fast track Commercial Court list.
Dundalk-based wholesaler O'Malley Ireland Spirits Trading Ltd and its related distributor Nonto DAC have brought proceedings against Great Northern Distillery Ltd (GND) which operates a whiskey distillery in Dundalk.
O'Malley and Nonto claim they have purchased some €60 million in whiskey from GND for around five years.
GND, both directly and through third parties, operates several 'bonded' warehouses which are regulated by Customs and Revenue and which store the product with excise duty suspended until such time as it exits the 'bonded chain'.
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The plaintiff companies seek declarations from the court including that it has title to whiskey purchased by O'Malley for the first three-quarters of 2024.
They also seek a declaration that having paid in full for those periods that the defendant has no entitlement to exercise a €6.4 million lien over the whiskey for fourth quarter warehousing and transport costs.
They also seek an injunction directing the defendant to provide access to its warehouses for the purpose of taking possession of the first three quarters' whiskey.
GND dispute the claims.
On Monday, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey admitted the case to the Commercial Court following an application from Bernard Dunleavy SC, for the plaintiffs, and on consent of Michael Howard SC, for the defendant.
The judge said the injunction application could be heard next month.
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