Case Reports

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the severity of a 16-year sentence for a man guilty of violent sexual assaults against two sex workers. In so ruling, the court upheld the trial judge’s decision that the offences should run consecutively. The court was also satisfied that th

The Supreme Court has referred a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in which the appellants challenged the legal basis for their surrender to the UK on foot of a European arrest warrant. The appellants had claimed that the EAW system between Ireland and the UK was invalid beca

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that the pre-trial detention of a man suspected of belonging to a terrorist organisation in Turkey was a violation of his human rights under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Tekin Akgün was suspected of b

The High Court has dismissed a personal injuries action in a trip-and-fall case on the basis that the plaintiff failed to look where he was walking at the time of the accident. The court applied cases such as Lavin v. Dublin Airport Authority [2016] IECA 268 and stated that the accident would not ha

The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal by a man who claimed that he had received unduly harsh conditions for a suspended sentence for harassment. The appellant had previously received a 30-month sentence with the last 12 months suspended on condition that he refrained from engaging in his job as a

A post-mortem examination of a baby conducted against the wishes of his parents has been ruled a breach of Articles 8 and 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Leyla Polat, an Austrian national, became pregnant with her son Y.M. in 2006 and was told by doctors that her baby was l

The High Court has quashed a decision by An Bord Pleanála for a safe injection site in Dublin due to a failure to consider the objections of a local primary school. The Board had provided temporary permission of three years for the facility, with a potential review of the development after th

The High Court has determined that a hotel owner must pay €200,000 as part of the domicile levy on the basis that his worldwide income was more than €1 million but his income tax liability was less than €200,000. In so ruling, the court held that the appellant could not deduct capital

The Court of Appeal has overturned the convictions of two men who were found guilty of murder under the doctrine of joint enterprise. The two appellants had been present at the time and had assisted a third man in the aftermath of the killing. However, the court held that, on the specific facts of t

The High Court has refused to grant an interlocutory injunction to restrain a company from selling valuable Dublin properties until shareholder oppression proceedings were fully resolved. The applicant alleged that there was serious mismanagement of the company which constituted oppression under sec

The High Court has granted an interlocutory injunction against Ms Gemma O’Doherty for defamatory comments that she made about Beaumont Hospital and its director of nursing. The court applied section 33 of the Defamation Act 2009 and held that Ms O’Doherty had no defence that was reasonab

The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal to prevent the prosecution of an 88-year-old man for sexual offences which occurred between 29 and 53 years ago. The man had previously failed to restrain the prosecution in the High Court. However, the Court of Appeal determined that the cumulative factors

The High Court has granted an interlocutory application by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to prevent the disposal of certain assets alleged to be the proceeds of crime. In so ruling, the court rejected a submission by the respondent that the application was statute-barred because the assets were h

The Court of Appeal has upheld an order of garnishee which was made to satisfy a damages award against a company in personal injury proceedings. The garnishee order was granted following the settlement of separate proceedings taken by the company against its insurance broker and underwriter. The com

The High Court has granted an application by Portakabin (Ireland) Limited for the disclosure of the subscriber registration information associated with a Gmail account that was allegedly spreading defamatory material about the company. The court ordered that Google Ireland Limited had to provide the