Case Reports

The High Court has ruled that mandatory-minimum sentences for those with previous convictions for serious drug trafficking is contrary to the Constitution. Under section 27(3F) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, a person had to receive at least 10 years’ imprisonment if they had previously been

The High Court has refused an application by Lidl Ireland GMBH for an injunction prohibiting the publication of two advertisements by the Irish Farmers' Association. Lidl claimed that the advertisements contained allegations that their own-brand milk was not Irish and that they had been misleading c

The High Court has ruled that the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) acted ultra vires its powers by withholding approval for a pier-side weighing system for freshly-caught fish. The action was taken by Pelagic Weighing Services Limited and Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation Limited, wh

A young child has been returned to his parents in England despite the objections of his aunt and uncle. The child had previously been transferred to their care in Ireland for a temporary period to allow his mother to overcome alcohol addiction. However, the aunt and uncle decided that it was in the

The High Court has granted an interlocutory injunction restraining the use of a trademark by a defendant which was alleged to infringe the trademark of a State-owned airline company. In reaching the decision, Ms Justice Nuala Butler considered that the balance of justice heavily favoured granting th

The High Court has granted discovery against a defendant in personal injuries proceedings, rejecting a submission that discovery infringed the defendant’s right to self-incrimination. The claim was made by the defendant company that, arising out of a prosecution by the Health and Safety Author

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the petitioners to an unsuccessful examinership application must pay 50 per cent of the opposing creditor’s costs in the proceedings. In reaching this conclusion, the court accepted that there was an important public interest aspect to the proceedings but tha

The High Court has awarded £125,000 to Arlene Foster arising out of a defamation action taken against celebrity doctor Christian Jessen. Giving judgment in the case, Mr Justice Gerry McAlinden stated that it was an “outrageously bad libel” which caused significant upset to the Firs

The High Court has considered that there is a jurisdiction to direct the disclosure of the identity of potential third parties against concurrent defendants. In the process, the Court substantially elaborated on the application in Ireland and boundaries of the House of Lords’ decision in Norwi

The High Court has determined that the requirement for an applicant under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to prove they are suffering from a medical “disorder” was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The court held that a diagnosis of a disorder was an antiquated n

The High Court has set aside the renewal of a personal injuries summons on the grounds that there were no special circumstances to justify the renewal. The principal issue in the case was whether the bringing of the renewal application prior to the expiry of the Statute of Limitations could amount t

The High Court has approved a personal insolvency arrangement which would allow a woman to repay her mortgage until the age of 90. The decision came following an appeal from the Circuit Court, in which the judge was concerned that the PIA would leave the debtor in a precarious position at the end of

The High Court has rejected judicial review proceedings brought by Facebook Ireland Limited seeking to quash a preliminary draft decision of the Data Protection Commissioner regarding EU-US data transfers. In the case, Facebook made a number of complaints about the procedure which the DPC had adopte

The High Court has granted an injunction restraining the Director of Public Prosecutions from prosecuting assault charges against a child due to delay. The applicant was 17 years old at the time of the offending but was only charged 15 months after the incident. The court was satisfied that there ha

The High Court in Belfast has refused to grant leave in judicial review proceedings taken by a solicitor who was referred to the independent Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) for numerous breaches of the Solicitors Accounting Regulations 2014. It was claimed by Mr Paul Kearney, of Kearney Law