Case Reports

A defaulting shareholder of the Blackrock Clinic has been ordered to pay another shareholding company almost €9 million in respect of the defaulted loans which the company purchased after the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank. In the leading judgment of the three-judge Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Finla

An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. However, in the absence of such a rule, the willingness of an employer to take acc

A solicitor who was found guilty of misconduct on numerous grounds by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal of the Law Society of Ireland has been struck off the Roll of Solicitors. The man implored the Court to uphold the recommendation of the tribunal directing that he be allowed to continue to pra

A Turkish judge who was dismissed in the wake of last year’s attempted coup d’état has had her application to the European Court of Human Rights unanimously declared inadmissible on the basis domestic law provides a remedy. The case concerns the dismissal of Kadriye Çatal by the Supreme Counci

The High Court in Belfast granted Irish language organisation, Conradh Na Gaeilge, a declaration that the Executive Committee failed, in breach of its statutory duty the Northern Ireland Act 1998, to adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to enhance and protect the development of the Irish lan

Member states may reserve to notaries the power to authenticate signatures appended to the documents necessary for the creation or transfer of rights to real property, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. This requirement contributes to guaranteeing the legal certainty of real prope

A woman who suffered serious life-long injuries as a result of a fall in Tesco has had her award reduced from €1,439,495 to €1,206,535.50. Delivering the judgment of the three-judge Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Mary Irvine largely rejected submissions put forward by Tesco arguing that the award w

A woman who was found guilty of the murder of her husband has lost an appeal against the finding that her certificate of conviction for the murder was admissible as evidence to preclude her from inheriting his estate. The woman argued that the certificate was hearsay and could therefore not be admit

A couple who complained that the council were in breach of the licence agreement to allow them to use their static caravan in Portstewart have been awarded €750 in compensation in Coleraine County Court. The couple were denied access for six months despite having paid their licence fee for the ful

A man who robbed a 16-year-old boy of €15, with the threat that he had a knife in his pocket, has had his suspended sentence replaced by a custodial sentence. Delivering the judgment of the three-judge Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Hedigan found that the trial judge had made an error in principle by

A man who suffered severe burns while resident at a Salvation Army hostel in Dublin has failed to prove that the charity was liable for his injuries. Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon found that the Salvation Army had taken reasonable care for the safety of its residents at all times, and that the attac

A woman who was awarded €16,818.75 by the Rights Commissioner for being unfairly dismissed by her employer, and who was unable to collect the award before her employer became insolvent, has successfully argued that the State failed to implement EU legislation which would have allowed her to be pai

A part-time pre-school teacher has been awarded €10,000 in compensation after the Court of Appeal upheld Labour Court and High Court findings that the woman was an employee of the Minister for Education and Skills, and had been treated less favourably than full-time workers by not being admitte

A woman who brought a challenge to the development of a wind farm beside her home has had her case referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Ms Edel Grace and Mr Peter Sweetman brought a challenge to a permission granted by An Bórd Pleanála to permit the development of a wind farm o

The Child and Family Agency, in a case involving the removal of two children from their parents, has been unsuccessful in challenging the writ of habeas corpus which was granted in the High Court as a result of parents’ lack of legal representation. The Child and Family Agency brought the appeal c