Case Reports

A man convicted of raping his mother has had his appeal dismissed by judges in the Supreme Court, who ruled that the trial judge’s directions to the jury in the rape trial had broadened the defence available to the accused rapist beyond what the law proscribed. Delivering the judgment of the seven

The cost of a call to an after-sales telephone number must not exceed the cost of a standard call, according to an Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The German company comtech GmbH markets electrical and electronic equipment. On its website, it displays the telephone nu

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Guerin Report into the handling of allegations of Garda misconduct contained conclusions that that were damaging to the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Alan Shatter, and that the defective procedure adopted in publishing the report amounted to a br

The lending of an electronic book (e-book) may, under certain conditions, be treated in the same way as the lending of a traditional book. In such a situation, the public lending exception, which provides inter alia for the fair remuneration of authors, is applicable, the Court of Justice of the Eur

In the Court of Appeal, the purchaser of a commercial unit lost his appeal against a High Court order for specific performance of a contract for the purchase of a commercial unit. The purchaser had argued that he was entitled to repudiate his contract with the vendor company due to the presence of a

The Rubik’s Cube shape is not an EU trademark and its non-visible functional elements including its rotating ability should have been considered when it was registered, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled. At the request of Seven Towers, a UK company which manages, inter al

Sitting as a Coroner at the inquest into the death of a 22-year-old man in 1992, Mr Justice Horner said it was impossible with the passage to time to say with any certainty what happened. In his judgment, the Coroner criticised the PSNI for creating obstacles and difficulties that prevented progress

The High Court has awarded a sum of €47,200 to a Dublin shop manager who was injured after slipping at work. Mr Justice Barr accepted evidence from medical experts that the injury had caused the woman to experience pain in her knee since the date of the accident in 2012, until this was relieved by

Social housing sector tenants who challenged the so called “bedroom tax” have received a mixed outcome at the UK Supreme Court. Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Sumption, Lord Carnwath, Lord Hughes and Lord Toulson heard the cases, which relate to the cap on housing benefit introduced

EU law does not preclude an increase in the share capital of a bank without the agreement of the general meeting of the shareholders in a situation where there is a serious disturbance of the economy and the financial system of a member state, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ru

A three-judge Court of Appeal has awarded a convicted rapist €17,225 after he sued the State for assault, negligence and breach of constitutional rights arising from an assault while he was a prisoner in Castlerea Prison. Overturning the finding of a High Court jury that had initially awarded the

The Court of Appeal has rejected two complaints from the Director of Public Prosecutions regarding a finding by the Central Criminal Court that an accused rapist was unfit to be tried. Rejecting the argument that the man should have been committed to the Central Mental Hospital; Justice Edwards stat

The High Court has refused a man’s application to access sworn information related to a search warrant on his premise. The sworn information sought by the man contained such facts as would permit the identification of confidential informants, and after weighing the public interest in producing evi

The High Court has dismissed an application brought by the Irish Health Service Executive for an order to force a pregnant woman to have a caesarean section against her will, in order to vindicate the right to life of her unborn child. Mr Justice Michael Twomey found that the right to life of the un

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a case against a solicitors' firm, brought by a man who was dissatisfied with the personal injury award he received over 15 years ago. The man alleged that his solicitors were professionally negligent and had failed to properly put his case to the Court, however Jus