Case Reports

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

A High Court judge has delivered a strong judgment regarding the practice in the personal injuries list of making consent orders which determine the amount of recoverable benefits to be paid by tortfeasors. Mr Justice Kevin Cross held that it was a “universal practice” in personal injuri

The Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland has dismissed an appeal from the Department of Justice against a finding that it had discriminated against a female employee on the grounds of sex. The claimant alleged that she had been employed with the DOJ and had intermittently performed the functions of a

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal of a man against an order for his surrender to the United Kingdom to face charges of sexual abuse of a young girl. The appellant argued that his surrender would be incompatible with his right to family and private life under Article 8 of the European Conv

The Court of Appeal has allowed an application by a man convicted of manslaughter for an extension of time to appeal his sentence. However, the court refused the man’s application to extend time to appeal his conviction. Delivering judgment in the case, Mr Justice George Birmingham (President)

The High Court has dismissed two legal challenges brought by several high-profile unionist politicians to the EU Withdrawal Protocol and the Withdrawal Acts and Regulations. The applicants claimed that Northern Ireland had been placed on a different constitutional footing than the other parts of the