Case Reports

A woman who was awarded €75,000 after her finger was severed by a hydraulic door, has had her award overturned by the Court of Appeal. Ms Justice Irvine found that there was no legal basis for finding that the pub was liable for the woman’s injuries.

An order requiring employment tribunal claimants to pay a fee in order to bring a claim has been declared unlawful under both domestic and EU law as it prevents access to justice, the UK Supreme Court has ruled. Parliament has conferred statutory rights on employees, including through legislation gi

An employee of the Health Service Executive has been granted an injunction directing the HSE to restore her to her contractual position as Area Director of Nursing. The Court of Appeal had previously granted the woman a declaration to the effect that her unilateral reassignment was a breach of contr

A man who was convicted of murder based on DNA evidence which was found on items he discarded after shooting a man in Dublin, has had his appeal dismissed in the Supreme Court.In the joint judgment of Mr Justice Clarke, Ms Justice Dunne, and Ms Justice O'Malley, it was held that the man’s right to

A woman who moved to Ireland while pregnant with her second child, in the face of a recommendation from UK social workers that the child should be placed in foster care, has successfully appealed the decision of the High Court that the UK should assume jurisdiction over the proceedings regarding the

A property developer who was harassed and intimidated after the breakdown of property transactions in 2006 has been awarded €10,000 in the High Court. The Court heard that the farmers from whom he bought 15 acres of land for €1.3 million in 2005, employed a debt recovery agency to recover a furt

An agricultural merchant company owed over €300k by one farmer since 2009, has been granted a declaration in the High Court that the farmer set up a company with his wife in order to defraud his creditors. Background

The Board of Management of a secondary school in Wicklow has lost its case against An Bord Pleanála, in which it sought an order of certiorari and various declaratory reliefs based on its failure to comply with the Planning and Development Act 2000 and disregard for anti-obesity policies when grant

The Supreme Court has upheld a finding of the Court of Appeal which overturned an award of almost €130,000 in a case which arose due to the State’s incorrect interpretation of EU law. Accepting that the man at the centre of the proceedings had suffered because of the error, Ms Justice Iseult O�

A man’s conviction for burglary has been quashed in a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, due to the improper use of the “adverse inferences” provisions of s. 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. The man was arrested on suspicion of having been involved in the unlawful discharge of a fire

A woman who had served as captain in the Army for over nine years, and who was excluded from promotion to commandant because she was off on maternity leave, has been awarded €824,794 in damages. In July 2016, the High Court found that Ms Diane Byrne had qualified for fixed period promotion in acco

The owners of Leopardstown race course have successfully appealed a finding of the Court of Appeal, which had overturned the High Court’s conclusion that submissions from a lease-holder on Leopardstown’s land alleging misrepresentation were not credible. The five-judge Supreme Court unanimously

A firefighter has succeeded in overturning Rocommon County Council's decision to dismiss him. Sean Callaghan, a part time retained firefighter based at Castlerea Fire Station sued his employer over its decision to terminate his employment claiming he had breached his contractual obligation to live w

A man who took his employer to court after it said it would not pay the spouse’s pension to his civil partner in the event of his death has had his appeal unanimously allowed by justices in the Supreme Court who found a provision of the Equality Act 2010 incompatible with EU law. John Walker, the

A woman who challenged a ban imposed by three Belgian municipalities on wearing clothing concealing the face in public suffered no discrimination, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Dakir v Belgium the European Court of Human Rights held, unani