A dispute between mother and son about the ownership of the well-known Kilkenny group of luxury design retail stores, employing 300 people, has come before the Commercial Court.

Greg O'Gorman claims his mother Marian, the CEO of the company running the stores, summarily terminated his employment as group marketing director last July in a demeaning and humiliating manner.

He said this was after 13 years’ service and no suggestion of misconduct or non-performance on his part.

He said he, his wife and three children, had been left "financially destitute" and he had been unable to get alternative employment.

The court heard that despite promises over years of a share transfer for his hard work, Mr O'Gorman's mother last June publicly repudiated a signed "family constitution".

He said that under this document she held legal ownership of shares in the company in trust for the O'Gorman Family Business Partnership made up of himself and his three siblings, Christopher, Melissa and Michelle.

All four siblings hold a 25% share, with the estimated value of his shareholding at €12.5m, it is alleged.

Mr O'Gorman said the "enormous personal toll" of these events has been compounded by marital disharmony between his parents who recently separated after 41 years of marriage.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern said the case was "peculiarly suited" for mediation and urged the parties to consider it.

The judge said it would be "very undesirable" to have this family dispute involving a successful business being explored publicly.

Mr O'Gorman's Senior Counsel, Rossa Fanning, said he would convey what the judge had said but, unfortunately, there was a "history of acrimonious disputes" which Mrs O'Gorman had found herself at the centre of over years.

The judge agreed to join Christopher O'Gorman, Castle Close Road, Blarney; Melissa O'Gorman, Mount Street Crescent, Dublin 2 and Michelle O'Gorman, Fernhurst, Tower, Blarney, as notice parties and returned the case to June next.

Mr Fanning said Mr O'Gorman made no criticism of his siblings and was not advancing any legal case against them but needed to join them as the outcome of the case would affect their interests.

Mr O'Gorman said Clydaville Investments Ltd, which carries on the luxury design retail Kilkenny business brand, operates 15 stores with its flagship store at Dublin's Nassau Street.

It had a €27m turnover in 2015 and he had secured a preliminary desktop valuation of some €50m for the business.

He was employed full-time by Clydaville between 2003 and 2016 and, after turning around the performance of the Galway store, was promoted by his mother to more senior roles and later to group marketing director.

The business flourished particularly during and since the economic recession, due "in no small part" to his management contribution, he said.

He made many personal sacrifices to ensure the success of the business, including working exceptionally long hours for a salary that did not reflect that, he said.

His mother represented he was effectively working for himself because of her promises to transfer a shareholding to him, he claimed.

To give effect to "repeated" promises, she convened family meetings and instructed advisers from 2009 leading to her and all four children being bound by terms of a family constitution executed in September 2010, he claims.

That evidenced the creation of a family partnership involving the four children as general partners and their mother as managing partner with Mrs O'Gorman continuing as the named shareholder of Clydaville but holding the shares in trust for the O'Gorman Family Partnership, it is claimed.

All parties complied with terms of those documents until a company meeting of 22 June 2016 when his mother read a prepared statement the company was no longer to be considered as a "family company", he said.

His employment was summarily terminated without reasons shortly afterwards, he said.

He was "shocked and personally devastated" and found "profoundly upsetting" his mother "publicly reneged on promises and commitments given to me over many years".

He lodged a claim for unfair dismissal before the Workplace Relations Commission in December 2016 and sought advice, leading to this case being initiated