Case Reports

A man has been awarded €453,000 in damages after a digger ran over his foot in a quarry in Co. Donegal in June 2003, ultimately leaving him without most of it. Mr David McLaughlin had initially brought an action against Damien McDaid, Michael McDaid, Charles McDaid and McDaid quarry in January 200

The Court of Appeal has found that the High Court erred in its interpretation of the facts in a case brought by a woman against the trustees of a rugby club in which she was assaulted. Ms Rowena Lynch brought the case against Patrick Cooney and Trevor Winckworth, in their capacity as trustees of Mul

Two applicants have failed to secure an order requiring two banks and an individual to provide information they claim to need in order to fill out a statement of affairs. The applicants, Brian O’Donnell and Mary Patricia O’Donnell, seeking an order against The Bank of Ireland,Bank of Ireland Pri

The High Court has made a judgment in default of defence against Sunday Newspapers Limited T/A Sunday World and Eugene Masterson, after they failed to deliver a defence in response to a claim that they defamed the character of Paul McNamara in an article published in the Sunday World on 21st Decembe

A man has had his applications against the former CEO of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the former CEO of the Land and Property Services, and two civil servants struck out on the basis the action failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action, was frivolous and vexatious or was otherwise a

of proceeding in 2004, and that he could not both be an executor of his mother’s Will, and bring a challenge against it. Further, under s.9(2)(b) of the Civil Liability Act 1961, the relevant limitation period for maintaining a cause of action which has survived against the estate of a deceased p

A young woman has had her sentence for a single count of assault contrary to s.3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act reduced, with the Court of Appeal finding that insufficient attention was given to the young age of the woman at the time of the offence. The offence, to which the woman

A managing director has been refused permission to represent his company in a dispute over an alleged breach of copyright. Pablo Star Media Limited, acting through its managing director Mr Haydn Price and not through a solicitor, had filed a claim with the District Court, seeking €3,000 damages fr

A man has lost his appeal against an order pursuant to section 32(1) of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978, which requires him to obtain the consent of the High Court before instituting or continuing any legal proceedings in any court or tribunal. The order was made at the request of the Att

A former consultant surgeon has failed to obtain an order from the Court of Appeal restraining the prosecution of a number of indecent assault offences which allegedly took place between the 1960s and 1990s. The alleged offences were perpetrated primarily against teenage boys who had been admitted t

A man has lost an appeal against his conviction for murder after unsuccessfully arguing the trial judge had incorrectly advised the jury as to the standard of proof in relation to the defence of diminished responsibility. Joseph Heffernan appealed to the Court of Appeal against his conviction for th

The High Court has found that a family’s use of factory land in order to access their cottage does not constitute a legal right of way, as it arose out of the family’s connection to the factory, and subsequently out of a relationship of tolerance and reciprocity. The plaintiffs, known as Zopitar

The High Court has awarded a teenage boy €51,244.56 in damages, after a fire in his home caused by a Hotpoint dishwasher caused him trauma, anxiety and distress. The plaintiff was acknowledged by the court to have been diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities, resulting in him requiring a spe

The High Court of Justice in the Northern Ireland Chancery Division has found that the Charity Tribunal incorrectly ruled that individual charity trustees did not have standing to seek review of decisions by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. The background to the case concerned a decision

The High Court has upheld a decision of the Labour Court in which it awarded €40,000 to a woman as a result of her dismissal from a school following her paralysis from the waist down. Ms Marie Daly, who had worked at Nano Nagle School as a Special Needs Assistant prior to the accident which left h