Lawyers for Ryanair and O’Leary aim to stop legal bid from US pension fund

A pension fund for police and fire officers in Birmingham, Alabama, sued Ryanair and Mr O’Leary in 2018, claiming they had made false and misleading statements to shareholders regarding employment issues at the carrier.

The fund insisted that recognising trade unions at Ryanair, combined with lower profits, ultimately wiped out “millions” in shareholder value.

Ryanair and Mr O’Leary have denied the claims.

A New York court has previously said that many of the complaints made against the defendants don’t have any actionable basis.

Lawyers for the pension fund now want permission from the court to amend its previously amended complaint against the airline and its boss.

But Ryanair’s and Mr O’Leary’s lawyers told the court that the pension fund is seeking to “fundamentally reshape” the scope of the claim.

“This belated attempt to radically expand this action – based almost entirely on evidence that was available at the time plaintiffs previously decided not to amend and that fails to correct the deficiencies previously identified by the court – must be denied,” they insisted.

They told the court that over a 10-month period, the two sides negotiated an evidence-discovery schedule based on the “narrow remaining claim” against the defendants, and argued multiple discovery disputes before the court.

“Now, apparently unhappy with rulings that have gone against them, plaintiffs seek to scrap the substantial work that has taken place over the last 10 months and to effectively start this case over,” the lawyers claim.

“For multiple reasons, the court must reject this belated, prejudicial, and inadequate attempt to upend the settled scope of this action.”

The airline’s lawyers note that the pension fund’s legal team want to introduce 35 additional sources to back up its action.

Among them is testimony publicly given by former Ryanair chief operating officer Peter Bellew.

Ryanair took legal action in 2019 against Mr Bellew in an effort to enforce a non-compete clause when the executive announced he was leaving the carrier to join rival EasyJet.

Mr Bellew and Mr O’Leary gave evidence during the eight-day trial in December that year. The court ruled that a non-compete clause in Mr Bellew’s contract was unenforceable.

“Plaintiffs’ attempt to predicate the PSAC (Proposed Second Amended Complaint) on evidence that was available to them at the time of the AC (Amended Complaint) or that duplicates dismissed allegations does not excuse ten months of delay,” note lawyers for Ryanair in the action by the Alabama pension fund.

Ryanair reported its 2021 results last week, reporting a full-year loss of €815m, compared to a previous year’s profit of just over €1bn. The air carrier also said that traffic fell 81pc due to Covid-19 restrictions in the financial year to the end of March 2021.