Case Reports

A finding of the High Court that the the Department of Justice (DOJ) had failed to provide sufficient funding to the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI) has been overturned on appeal. Emphasising that the Police (NI) Act 1998 provided the DOJ with the discretion to provide sum

A “disaffected” former member of the Church of Scientology has successfully had a perpetual injunction against him dissolved in the High Court. Considering Szabo, Justice Noonan held that the man’s behaviour did not amount to a substantial risk – and that in any event, the plaintiff was not

A man who argued that he was the true owner of premises his father had mortgaged, and over which the bank had appointed a receiver, has lost his application to the High Court for possession. Finding that the plaintiff had perjured himself in claiming that he had paid his father for an ownership inte

A man arrested in Ireland on foot of two European Arrest Warrants has successfully objected to his surrender to the UK, due to the risk of him being subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment in Maghaberry Prison. Directing the Minister for Justice and Equality to seek further information regardi

An investment fund which bought billions of euros worth of property loans in the State has been granted a summary judgment against former AIB bankers in “highly unusual circumstances” which involved the recusal of Mr Justice Max Barrett ex post facto due to his involvement with IBRC. Agreeing wi

Two objectors who unsuccessfully applied to the High Court for judicial review of the decision by An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for an Apple Data Centre in Athenry, have been refused leave to appeal. Rejecting all proposed points, Mr Justice McDermott held that the applicants sought

The decision by the PSNI to not take further steps to investigate the question of identifying and prosecuting those responsible for criminal acts during the interrogation of the Hooded Men, has been quashed in the High Court in Belfast. Delivering the judgment, Mr Justice McGuire found that the deci

A judge of the High Court in Dublin is seeking further information on the conditions in a Northern Ireland prison before deciding whether to extradite a Belfast man wanted there in connection with the murder of a mother-of-three. Raymond O’Neill is facing charges of murder and arson over the death

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) and the Law Society of Ireland successfully raised preliminary objections as to jurisdiction in respect of issues sought to be litigated by a solicitor as part of his appeal from a finding of misconduct by the SDT. Dismissing the solicitor’s appeal, Mr Ju

A man who was imprisoned for rape in 1995, and who went on to sexually assault the four daughters of a woman he entered into a relationship with after his release, has had his sentence of 12 years reduced to 9 on appeal. Mr Justice Hedigan found that the sentencing judge had erred in principle when

The Bank of Ireland has been granted judgment of €970,000 outstanding for a mortgage loan granted to a couple in 2006. In a heavily critical judgment, Mr Justice Noonan emphasised that there was no tort of reckless lending, and found that the couple had no bona fide defence.

A woman has been awarded over £20,000 in the Northern Ireland Fair Employment Tribunal after it was found that she was discriminated against and victimised on the grounds of her religious belief or political opinion. The woman had been working for the company for over four years when a dispute aros

A man alleged to have committed 51 offences of fraud in the United States has been unsuccessful in his challenge to an order for his extradition under s.15 of the Extradition Act 1965. The man contended that the State was prohibited from ordering his extradition in circumstances where his offences w

The Revenue Commissioners have won an appeal against a decision of the High Court in which it had been found that an annual charge paid by a taxpayer on his rental properties was a rate “levied by a local authority” and therefore deductible against rental income. Delivering the judgment of the C

A man who sought to challenge issues of his inheritance by way of judicial review has had his appeal to the Supreme Court dismissed. Patrick Reen argued that the public house which had been established by his great-grandfather in 1860 should have been inherited by him in turn, like his father and gr