Case Reports

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has upheld a 19-year prison sentence for offences committed by a father against his 12-day-old son. The court accepted that this was a stiff sentence, but found it reasonable given the nature of the acts in question, and given the appellant’s lack of re

The High Court has awarded €89,000 to a man who received a tear to his rotator cuff and psychiatric damage in a road traffic accident. In so ruling, the court applied the principles contained in the Personal Injuries Guidelines for compensation for multiple injuries. Delivering judgment in the

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the son of a defendant to possession proceedings may not represent his father in an appeal despite the fact that the son represented his father on numerous occasions in the High Court. The son had appeared 28 times in procedural lists on behalf of the defendant and

The High Court has dismissed a challenge by parents of a newborn baby who died shortly after his birth against a coroner’s verdict that the child died from natural causes. The parents identified a range of complaints, including that the decision was irrational, that insufficient time was provi

The High Court has ruled that a debtor must pay the costs of a creditor’s bankruptcy petition despite discharging the underlying debt in the case. The court has asked parties to address the issue of liability for costs because previous judges had taken a view that creditors were not entitled t

The UK Supreme Court has cleared the way for the enactment of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill after ruling it does not infringe on the right to freedom of assembly under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court found that placing limitations on wher

The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal brought by an accused who claimed that the Court of Appeal failed to consider the totality principle in his case. The man had successfully argued in the Court of Appeal that the trial judge had erred in sentencing him for several indecent assault offences, but

The High Court has delivered two further decisions on the Recoverable Benefits and Assistance (RBA) Scheme, holding that it is permissible for practitioners to seek consent orders apportioning liability between the parties to personal injuries actions. In so ruling, the judges rejected the reasoning

Northern Ireland’s High Court has found that a failure by police to properly investigate a suspected 1976 murder is potentially a breach of their common law and statutory duty. The court granted judicial review, finding that this question was an important point of public law.

The Circuit Court has dismissed an appeal from a decision by the Data Protection Commission that a verbal disclosure by a barrister regarding a conflict of interest did not breach their GDPR obligations. The appeal was taken by a former client of the barrister who claimed that the disclosure breache

The High Court has ruled that the HSE was required to provide an assessment of need for a disabled child who required a diagnosis to access appropriate schooling and education services. The applicant had significant learning difficulties but the HSE had not assessed him for several years. Delivering

The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a man who stabbed his partner and mother of his infant child in the back four times as she attempted to flee from him. The man had originally been sentenced to three years' imprisonment but the court held that this was too lenient. Delivering judgme

A Nigerian national who had a deportation order made against him after being convicted of offences of dishonesty, including fraud, has won an appeal in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales against the Upper Tribunal’s dismissal of his case. Appellant AEB argued that the UT had misdirected

Northern Ireland’s Crown Court has ruled that a former British soldier was responsible for the manslaughter of Aiden McAnespie in 1988. The court found that the soldier acted with gross negligence by handling a cocked machine gun where he was under no pressure and in no danger. The defendant,

The High Court has allowed an appeal against an order striking out a plaintiff’s proceedings on the basis that the proceedings did not offend the rule in Henderson v. Henderson (1843) 3 Hare 100. The plaintiff had issued a previous set of proceedings arising from the same incident and the Circ