Case Reports

Granting an appeal brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Supreme Court has ordered the retrial of a man who had previously been acquitted of burglary and arson in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Delivering the unanimous judgment of the four-judge Court, Mr Justice William McKechnie held

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) must re-examine whether the three-dimensional shape corresponding to the product “Kit Kat 4 fingers” may be maintained as an EU trade mark because distinctive character acquired through use of the mark must be shown in all the member states

Extrinsic evidence including affidavits from her family revealed the true intention of a deceased woman was to bequeath her apartment to a relative who had been inadvertently misnamed in her last will and testament, the High Court has held. Three residuary legatees challenged the admission of the ex

A woman evicted by her local council on foot of an unlawful warrant is entitled to damages, the Supreme Court has held. In the joint judgment of Justice Clarke, Justice Laffoy and Justice O’Malley, the Court declared that the decision of the High Court judge to withhold relief despite a finding of

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a couple’s challenge to the validity of a guarantee in regards to which the High Court granted Ulsterbank a summary judgment for €126,000. Mr Justice George Birmingham, with whom Mr Justice Michael Peart agreed, found that neither the husband or wife had an argu

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim brought by a woman who fell down the stairs of a double decker operated by Dublin Bus. Delivering the finding of the three-judge Court, Mr Justice Michael Peart found that the woman was “the author of her own misfortune” by letting go of the handrail bef

The Court of Appeal has quashed the eleven-year sentence given to a man convicted of raping a young woman in her bedroom Cork, and resentenced the man to eight years’ imprisonment with the final three years suspended upon conditions. Delivering the judgment of the three-judge Court, Mr Justice Edw

The Court of Appeal has granted the application of a mother to return to Australia with her two children, who she brought to Ireland in the Summer of 2016 with her Irish husband. Overturning the High Court’s decision to refuse her application, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan found that that the children w

The High Court has refused an application brought by Dana Rosemary Scallan seeking orders directing the plaintiffs in a defamation case brought against her to furnish security for legal costs pursuant to Order 29 of the Rules of the Superior Courts. Delivering the judgment of the Court, Mr Justice E

The widow of a man who died in 2003 must be removed as the administratrix of his estate and appoint a firm of professional trustees in her place, the High Court has ruled. Two daughters of the deceased brought the case to replace their mother as administratrix due to a number of inconsistencies in t

The Supreme Court has granted leave to retired solicitor Brian O’Donnell and his wife Dr Mary Patricia O’Donnell to appeal the award of costs which was made against them in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, to be paid outside their bankruptcy estates. Chief Justice Denham, Justice Dunne, a

The High Court has refused a teacher’s application for judicial review of a disciplinary procedure imposed by his employer, finding that it was not a matter which should be dealt with by the Court. The relevant disciplinary procedure was a final written warning which was issued by the private scho

The Children’s Court at Dublin Metropolitan District Court has ruled that the trial of a man who was a minor at the time of the offence for which he is accused must go ahead, despite allegations of prosecutorial delay resulting in prejudice against the accused who is now an adult. Judge John O’C

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a five-year sentence with three suspended given to a man who “could not have been more co-operative with the Garda investigation” into the €630,000 worth of cannabis found in his possession was not unduly lenient. Delivering the judgment of the three-judge Co

A murderer who sought reduction of his conviction to manslaughter on the basis the statutory test for the Scots-derived defence of diminished responsibility requires that the judge defines for the jury the word “substantial” in “substantially impaired” has had his appeal unanimously dismisse