{"id":307056,"date":"2026-02-20T00:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/307056\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T00:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:26:08","slug":"john-magnier-drops-plan-to-appeal-barne-estate-ruling-for-pragmatic-reasons-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/307056\/","title":{"rendered":"John Magnier drops plan to appeal Barne Estate ruling for \u2018pragmatic\u2019 reasons \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billionaire businessman John Magnier<\/a> has \u201con pragmatic grounds\u201d dropped his plan to appeal against the High Court<\/a>\u2019s ruling in his case over the Barne Estate in Co Tipperary.<\/p>\n

A statement on behalf of the Coolmore stud farm owner said the appeal contemplated by him and his co-plaintiffs \u201cdid not intend to seek enforcement of the land deal (or associated damages)\u201d. Instead, the plaintiffs had wanted to challenge the judge\u2019s factual and legal findings, with which Magnier had \u201cfundamental and firm disagreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Magnier resolutely maintains the position he put forth at trial and his position … He has at all times acted in absolute good faith and remains disappointed by the Court\u2019s decision and the subsequent remarks of the trial judge which he considers to be unjustified,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The case brought by Magnier and his children JP Magnier and Katherine Wachman alleged a binding oral agreement was reached with the owner of the Barne Estate, Richard Thomson-Moore, in August 2023 for John Magnier to purchase the 751-acre estate near Clonmel for \u20ac15 million.<\/p>\n

Judge Max Barrett last September found no land-sale agreement or option agreement had been concluded and that Thomson-Moore and his agent John Stokes had informed Magnier the deal was subject to trustee approval.<\/p>\n

Dismissing the action last September, the judge said the billionaire gave evidence to the court that was \u201centirely false\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cLying … that is what happened here,\u201d Barrett said, as he criticised the \u201cshifting sands\u201d in Magnier\u2019s narrative about his belief that the trustees had been informed.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Magnier last December indicated to the court that he would challenge the judgment in an appeal.<\/p>\n

The statement on behalf of Magnier on Thursday said the intended appeal would not have interfered with the Thomson-Moore family\u2019s sale of the 17th-century estate to New York-based construction and hospitality businessman Maurice Regan for \u20ac22.5 million. <\/p>\n

It said that, given the Magniers would no longer be pursuing a claim over the land, \u201can appeal may have been considered legally moot\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn those pragmatic grounds and with a view to allowing all parties to move on, an appeal will not be pursued,\u201d the statement said, adding that the Magniers wish the Thomson-Moore family well with their move to Australia.<\/p>\n

A statement issued on behalf of Regan said \u201cwe are delighted that justice and truth has prevailed\u201d and that the Thomson-Moore family \u201ccan move on with their lives as they planned some three long years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still dismayed that the case was ever taken as it sought to overturn 330 years of Irish conveyancing law. It has been a gruelling, public, costly and deeply unnecessary battle for the family that would have broken most human beings both emotionally and financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thomson-Moore family \u201csimply wanted to sell their home and farm that had been in their family for almost 400 years … yet here we are three years and over \u20ac10m in legal costs later,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consequences for our family have been significant. Our lives have been placed completely on hold. The stress, trauma and financial burden imposed on the family throughout this entirely unnecessary process has been immense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family said they look forward to turning their energy and support to each other, particularly their son who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billionaire businessman John Magnier has \u201con pragmatic grounds\u201d dropped his plan to appeal against the High Court\u2019s ruling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73,61,60,20042,43],"class_list":["post-307056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-magnier","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}