Case Reports

The High Court has ruled that two emails which were sent by a journalist to the newsdesk at the Irish Daily Star, described as earlier drafts of an article which is now the subject of defamation proceedings, are covered by journalistic privilege. Accepting evidence on behalf of the newspaper which s

Damages awarded to a company who sued LK Shields for negligence in a conveyancing transaction have been reduced from €11 million to €5.2 million by the Supreme Court. Substituting the award of the High Court, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell said that the title issue which the firm was at fault for

A man who pleaded guilty to the murder of another in September 2016 has been sentenced to 12 years in prison at Belfast Crown Court. Allowing a two-and-a-half-year reduction in the sentence for the man’s guilty plea before the trial, Mr Justice Colton accepted that his actions were initially in se

According to Advocate General Wathelet, EUIPO must re-examine whether the three-dimensional shape of the ‘Kit Kat 4 fingers’ product may be maintained as an EU trade mark. He proposes that the appeals brought by Nestlé, EUIPO and Mondelez be dismissed and states that Nestle did not adduce suffi

A modular trial format has been ordered in the ongoing Blackrock Clinic shareholder dispute which commenced in 2014. Finding that the extensive use of court resources in this private dispute, and the recusal of a judge previously hearing the case amounted to “special or unusual circumstances”; M

An 18-year-old man who is facing rape charges has been declined orders for various reliefs sought on the basis that there was culpable delay in the advancement of the investigation. It was argued that the effect of the delay was that the man, who was 16 at the time of the alleged offence, had lost t

Mental health records sought by an employer in proceedings brought by a suspended employee have been "sealed and placed on the court file" for use by the court in determining the appropriate remedy if the employee's claim is successful. The order was also made to ensure that the employer, the Nation

The Child and Family Agency has been granted orders authorising the Adoption Agency of Ireland to make an adoption order in favour of the foster parents who have cared for the child since 2010. Making an order dispensing of the consent of the birth mother to the making of the adoption order, Ms Just

A 53 year-old man who practised as a solicitor for nearly 15 years, has been struck off the Roll of Solicitors for serious serial acts of dishonesty. The man had issued false certificates of earnings for his sister to enable her to secure a mortgage, and had also given multiple undertakings to banks

A Ukrainian man who had his application for a residence card refused by the Secretary of State, has succeeded in his application for judicial review of the impugned decision. Making an order quashing the decision, Justice McCloskey found that the Secretary of State had made no attempt to engage with

A man who was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, with the final year suspended, has had his appeal against the severity of his sentence dismissed by the Court of Appeal. Delivering the judgment of the three-judge Court, Mr Justice Mahon said that the abuse suffered by the man’s victims was asso

A man who was awarded costs in the High Court in 2011 against a judge whom he accused of objective bias has not been awarded costs despite successfully appealing a High Court order which was made once the matter was remitted by the Supreme Court. Finding that an award of costs could not be made agai

A man who was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for deception involving a vulnerable woman who was swindled out of €90,000 has lost an appeal against the severity of his sentence. Finding that the sentencing judge had not erred in fixing a headline sentence of 4.5 years where the maximum sent

A financial fund has been granted summary judgment for repayment of a €1.8 million loan which was facilitated by EBS in 2006. One of the property developers who agreed to the loan sought to argue that there was an oral agreement that he would not be personally liable to the loan, which was not inc

The Director of Public Prosecutions has been granted an order remitting dangerous driving proceedings to the District Court, which had previously been prosecuted summarily in error. The DPP sought to prosecute the man involved in a five-vehicle accident on indictment on a single charge of dangerous