Case Reports

The Court of Appeal has extended a special care order for a vulnerable child in circumstances where there was no available stepdown facility for the child to return to the community. It was held that difficulties with such placements were a “long-term problem” in the State. Delivering ju

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim that a prisoner’s human rights were infringed when his housing benefit was denied for four months during his period of imprisonment. The court found that there had been no discrimination between treatment of convicted and unconvict

The High Court has refused to set aside third-party proceedings in personal injuries proceedings where it was claimed that the defendant had delayed by two years in joining the third party. The court determined that the defendant had acted reasonably by waiting for replies to particulars and gatheri

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has delivered a judgment on the appropriate method for calculating custody expiry dates for prisoners facing concurrent sentences. The court rejected the argument that the calculation of a release date for one offence must take into consideration any period o

The Supreme Court has ruled that the President of Ireland is immune from requests for information and documents pursuant to the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007-2014. It was held that the President’s office did not fall within Article 2(2) of the

A Northern Ireland Crown Court sitting in Belfast has determined that James McVeigh will go 18 years without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the 2019 murder of Paul Smyth. The court’s decision was impacted by aggravating factors, such as the fact that McVeigh was out on bail

The High Court has ruled that a plaintiff in summary proceedings must pay the defendant’s costs after the plaintiff consented to the matter being transferred to plenary hearing. The defendant had submitted that the plaintiff should pay his costs because the summons did not properly particulari

Northern Ireland’s High Court has dismissed a man's claim to reverse a bankruptcy order where it was argued that his delay in selling cattle had been caused by pending litigation and the pandemic. In addition, the debtor's request for an extension of time to set aside the statutory demand upon

The High Court has ruled that a licensing authority may not limit the temporal scope of a five-year taxi licence based on the immigration status of a foreign driver. The court made this ruling in a context where a foreign taxi driver was granted a licence for four months while his immigration appeal

The High Court has ruled that a plaintiff in personal injuries proceedings was not entitled to receive monies equivalent to his total sick pay in order to compensate his employer. The plaintiff claimed that he had provided an undertaking to his employer to repay approximately €40,000 in sick p

The High Court has determined that a garda inspector was entitled to have his promotion backdated after it was delayed due to a false complaint by a member of the public. The investigation of the complaint delayed the promotion by seven months, during which time the garda did not receive the higher

The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a journalist who had his mobile phone seized by gardaí with a view to obtaining information relating to a serious criminal incident. The journalist had refused to give the phone to gardaí on the basis of journalistic privilege. The court deter

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal regarding a decision by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The court found that it was not reasonable for the PSNI to reopen one specific legacy case because new evidence came to light, and rejected the argument that they h

Northern Ireland’s High Court has rejected claims that a prisoner was wrongly refused permission to visit his mother in hospital, and then again to attend her funeral. The court found that the decision of the health trust had been a rational one, and although there had been confusion about the

Northern Ireland’s High Court has awarded damages to a man who bought a £47,500 forestry mulcher with a defective clutch, which the defendant argued had been "sold as seen", on the basis the mulcher had been advertised as being in good condition and the seller was aware that it was inten