Ex-Halliwells partner faces £120,000 claim from RBS over loan payment

RBS is claiming the sum from Kennedys partner Michael McCarthy, who worked at Halliwells prior to its 2010 collapse. McCarthy is countering the suit by arguing that Halliwells should have repaid the loan prior to it going into administration and that RBS induced a breach of contract on the part of the firm in refusing to allow the loan to be repaid with RBS money.

The case is being heard in the Manchester Mercantile Court all week, with the hearing kicking off on Monday (19 October).

The bank has instructed Addleshaw Goddard partner Ian Hastings to lead advice, with O’Neill instructing 3VB barrister Charlotte Eborall.

Teacher Stern partner Stephen Taylor has instructed Selborne Chambers’ Duncan Kynoch to defend the claim for McCarthy.

McCarthy joined Halliwells in 2007 from Reed Smith, having previously been head of insolvency at Reed Smith merger partner Richards Butler. He said he could not comment on the case as it was ongoing, “other than to say that this case will continue to be strenuously defended”.

The case is the latest in a string of actions involving former Halliwells partners since the firm’s demise.

Earlier this year a group of 26 former Halliwells partners instructed TLT to act for them against a claim from the firm’s liquidators that fixed-share partners knew about the firm’s insolvency before it went into formal administration.

Meanwhile last year the High Court decided nine former Halliwells partners could not be pursued by the firm’s liquidators for overpaid drawings and overpaid tax.

Halliwells went into administration in 2010 after two years of falling profitability and rising debt. Its assets were bought by a variety of firms with legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and HBJ Gateley Wareing (now Gateley) taking the bulk of lawyers and staff and a variety of other firms picking up teams.