Michael Flatley to mount Supreme Court case after failed appeal over Cork mansion

High Court reporters

Riverdance star Michael Flatley is set to mount a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court in the ongoing saga about his Cork mansion, Castlehyde.

The move comes after the dancer on Thursday lost a bid to appeal part of a High Court decision referring to arbitration a dispute between him and his former insurance company over a €30 million claim on the policy for his Fermoy mansion.

A three-judge Court of Appeal dismissed the former Riverdance star’s appeal application and said he cannot bring an appeal over a part of the decision by the High Court to send his case for arbitration.

Giving the judgement of the court Mr Justice Donald Binchy said he was satisfied that Section 11 of the Arbitration Act which stipulates that the High Court decision is final and there is no right of appeal “operates as a complete bar to an appeal from the High Court.”

Ms Justice Nuala Butler and Ms Justice Niamh Hyland agreed.

The counsel for Mr Flatley, Ronnie Hudson BL instructed by solicitor Maxwell Mooney, told the court the Riverdance star had instructed his solicitor to bring a constitutional challenge and to instruct senior counsel on the matter.

The constitutional challenge to the Supreme Court will relate to Section 11 of the Arbitration Act which says there is no right of appeal from a High Court decision referring a dispute to arbitration.

Mr Hudson said Mr Flatley is not going to initiate arbitration with the insurance company.

Last June, Mr Flatley lost his High Court bid to prevent his multi-million claim against the high-end insurance company Hiscox over alleged defective work done to Castlehyde being referred to out of court arbitration.

Mr Justice Michael Twomey rejected Mr Flatley’s claim that Hiscox, in trying to get Mr Flatley to arbitrate, rather than litigate its dispute with him was seeking to avoid their responsibility to him.

The Court of Appeal on Thursday heard there were two insurance policies at issue in the case and the Flatley side accepted that a claim made under a 2023/2024 policy was correctly stayed by the High Court when referred for arbitration and the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction on the matter.

Mr Justice Binchy said that the Flatley side were seeking to divide the order of the High Court and claimed there were entitled to appeal in relation to the 2022/2023 insurance policy.

Mr Flatley, in an affidavit opened during the High Court hearing, claimed the high-end insurance company which covered his Fermoy estate until 2024 was trying to re-write his consumer household policy into a commercial policy in order to rely on the Arbitration Act.

Hiscox Societe Anonyme had applied to the High Court to have the proceedings against it before the big business Commercial Court – where Mr Flatley is suing several parties over alleged damage to the mansion – stayed pending arbitration.

In the main Commercial Court proceedings which are continuing, Mr Flatley claims he and his family had to vacate Castlehyde in October 2023 after toxic chemical residue was detected during routine maintenance. He has sued several parties, including Hiscox.