Michael Flatley is to complain that his former business partners breached a court injunction by proceeding to run a Lord of the Dance show in Zagreb on Wednesday night.
The performance of the show in Croatia went ahead under the control of Switzer Consulting Ltd. On Tuesday, Flatley obtained a court order in Belfast that barred Switzer and its directors from interfering with the show.
The Lord of the Dance world tour is scheduled to move to Hungary for its next seven shows, with the first of those due to run in the Pick Arena in Szeged on Thursday.
The dispute over the control of the show has sparked legal actions in Belfast, Dublin and London. Yesterday it was announced that Irish billionaires Maurice Regan and Luke Comer had purchased the music rights for Lord of the Dance to support Flatley’s attempts to regain control of the show. The deal settles a debt of $2.5 million (€2.16 million) that Flatley owed.
Shawdale Holdings Ltd, an Irish company jointly owned by the two construction tycoons, bought the rights to the show’s music from Cutting Edge, the company controlled by Flatley’s former business partner Philip Moross.
The High Court in Belfast was previously informed that an agreement was signed by Flatley in 2024 that allowed Switzer to run the Lord of the Dance show and that Cutting Edge would receive 50 per cent of the royalties to repay a €3.35 million debt that was then owed by Flatley.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Cutting Edge confirmed Flatley no longed owed it any money and all its obligations from the 2024 agreement were transferred to Shawdale.
A statement issued by Flatley’s solicitor Barry Creed said the Shawdale purchase was done with his client’s consent.
“As a result of this transaction Ms Alexandra McConnell Walshe, daughter of Mr Des Walshe (Mr Flatley’s former financial adviser) is obliged to immediately transfer the shares in Switzer Consulting Limited to Michael Flatley,” the statement said.
“Shawdale Holdings Limited is aware of the unauthorised use of those music rights and have this afternoon issued the appropriate cease and desist notices to those parties.
“All parties who were the subject of the injunction granted yesterday by Mr Justice Huddleston in the Belfast High Court have been formally notified that they have no entitlement whatsoever to use the grand rights in the music to Lord of the Dance.”
Flatley will be back in court in Belfast on Friday seeking to remove Alexandra Walshe as the trustee of Switzer. He maintains that she was supposed to hold the ownership of the company in trust for him.
Switzer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The purchase of the Cutting Edge music rights is the third significant financial intervention that Comer and Regan have jointly made to support Flatley in legal proceedings in the past year.
In January, Stolensky, another firm jointly financed by the two billionaires, lodged €500,000 into Flatley’s solicitor’s account.
The Belfast High Court agreed to lift an injunction it had granted Switzer that barred Flatley from interfering in running the Lord of the Dance. It made the decision partly on the basis that the €500,000 deposit showed Flatley had the funds to cover any damages that Switzer might win in a full trial.
Comer and Regan loaned the former dancer €7 million last year to settle a case taken by lender Novellus, which was seeking to take possession of Flatley’s Castlehyde mansion in Cork.
Flatley has taken legal action against his former solicitor Max Mooney in Dublin over complaints about his legal work on both the Novellus loan and the Switzer arrangements.
On Wednesday, Judge Ian Huddleston in Belfast expressed frustration about the “tit-for-tat” style of litigation between Flatley and Switzer.
“This is fast becoming farcical. It needs to be brought to some sort of measured conclusion, and quickly,” he stated.
Switzer has said it is entitled to run the Lord of the Dance shows as Flatley signed away his intellectual property rights to the company in return for a loan from businessman Bruce MacInnes.
In an affidavit, Flatley said he disputes claims from Switzer and Des Walshe, his former agent, that he transferred all his intellectual property rights, valued at €158 million, for the sum of €1.
Switzer had previously accused Flatley of trying to “hijack” the tour to strip it of cash to fund his debts and personal lifestyle in Monaco.