Case Reports

A drunk driver has successfully appealed against the severity of the sentence imposed upon him for causing the death of a four-year-old boy and causing serious injuries to the boy’s mother in 2014. The Court of Appeal found that the sentencing judge was not objective in his decision, and had faile

The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal (NICA) refused to re-open the appeals of six individuals previously sentenced in joint enterprise murder convictions, advising that the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) was the more appropriate route to follow where the NICA had already dismissed the appea

Intel’s appeal against the imposition of a €1.06 billion fine for abuse of its dominant position should be upheld and the case should be referred back to the General Court for a fresh review in the Opinion of an Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union. By decision of 13 Ma

The Court of Appeal has granted an application for defamation proceedings to be held in camera, as sought by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána. The civil proceedings were brought by two private individuals against the Sunday World Newspapers Ltd, but were in connection with a previous case con

The Court of Appeal has found that, by refusing to make a cake supporting same sex marriage, Ashers Baking Company directly discriminated against a man on the grounds of sexual orientation contrary to the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (NI) 2006 and on the grounds of religious and pol

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that a 15-day time limit imposed on failed refugee applicants to apply to the Minister for Justice and Equality for subsidiary protection, compromises the ability of applicants to avail themselves of the rights conferred on them by EU law,

The government of Slovenia has lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights over the actions of the Croatian judiciary and executive in relation to legal claims brought by a Slovenian bank. Slovenia lodged the application under article 33 of the European Convention on Human Rights o

The UK Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed an appeal against the quashing of a woman’s conviction for the murder of her former partner, and upheld the Court of Appeal’s finding that bad character evidence had been wrongly admitted at the woman’s trial in 2010. Delivering the unanimous judg

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that a fixed-price system for the sale by pharmacies of prescription-only medicinal products for human use is incompatible with the free movement of goods. The Deutsche Parkinson Vereinigung is a German self-help organisation which seeks to improve the l

The Court of Appeal has overturned the finding of the High Court that the directors of a liquidated company were personally liable to a creditor pursuant to s. 297A of the Companies Act 1963. Justice Hogan stated that it was not enough to show that the directors were aware that the loss might have o

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that website operators may have a legitimate interest in storing certain personal data relating to its visitors in order to protect itself against cyberattacks. The dynamic internet protocol address of a visitor constitutes personal data, with respect to

In the High Court in Belfast, Justice Horner found that a man’s failure to include a Penal Notice in an agreed order requiring a family to vacate his premises within a specified time did not preclude him from seeking to re-serve the order with the required Penal Notice attached. Background

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the initial acquirer of a copy of a computer program, accompanied by an unlimited user licence, may resell that copy and his licence to a new acquirer — however, where the original copy has been damaged, destroyed or lost, the acquirer may not pro

The High Court has granted an application from a hospital to treat a prisoner with intravenous medication notwithstanding the man’s refusal. Justice Humphreys was satisfied that the prisoner lacked the mental capacity to properly understand the consequences of his refusal, but that in any event, t

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Italy failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law by failing to guarantee just and appropriate compensation for victims of all violent intentional crimes. Under an EU directive, the victims of violent intentional crimes are entitled to fair and appropri