Recent Superior Court cases cover child welfare, constitutional law, criminal law, immigration, injunctions, landlord and tenant, mental health, partnership law and more.
Recent cases published on the Courts website are listed below.
Child Welfare
B (a minor) suing by his mother and next friend Y v Child and Family Agency; and T Q, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and ors (notice parties)
13/3/2024 No. 2024/198 P [2024] IEHC 174
Child welfare - Child - Medical conditions - Special care order - Order has not been given effect - Child not yet admitted to special care - Failure to comply with special care order - Declaration sought - Whether defendant is in contempt of court - Dispute - Defendant seeks an order that preliminary issues of law be tried in these proceedings pursuant to O.25 or in the alternative O.34, r.2 of the RSC - Reliefs refused
Constitutional Law
Delaney, Bridget v Personal Injuries Assessment Board, Judicial Council and ors
9/4/2024 No. 100/2022 [2024] IESC 10
Constitutional law - Separation of powers - Personal injuries - Trip and fall - Claim assessed using Personal Injuries Guidelines - Appellant argued claim be assessed using Book of Quantum - Personal Injuries Guidelines approved by the Judicial Council - Reduction in awards for minor injuries - Challenge - Legal basis - Powers - S. 7(2)(g) of the Judicial Council Act 2019 - Whether guidelines are legally binding - Whether the guidelines constitute an impermissible delegation of legislative power, vested exclusively in the Oireachtas under Art. 15.2.1° of the Constitution, to the Judicial Council - Whether the provisions giving legal effect to the guidelines are contrary to Art. 35.2 of the Constitution - Declaration made that section 7(2)(g) of the Judicial Council Act 2019 is unconstitutional in its current form - Declaration that the personal injury guidelines adopted by the Judicial Council on 6 March 2021 were given force of law by virtue of s. 30 of the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021 and are consequently in force
Criminal Law
People (DPP) v G (P)
15/2/2024 No. 190/2022 [2024] IECA 69
Criminal law - Conviction - Offences of rape and sexual assault - Appellant appealing against conviction - Refusal by the trial judge to stop the trial, relying on the inherent jurisdiction of the court - Unfairness - People (OPP) v PO'C [2006] 2 IR 238 - Whether an unknown source gave the complainant erroneous information prior to his initial complaint - Appeal dismissed
W (M) v People (DPP)
26/2/2024 No. 169/2020 [2024] IECA 56
Criminal law - Conviction - Offences of rape and sexual assault against a family member - Appellant is the father of the victim - Appellant sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 11 years with the final year suspended with conditions - Appeal against conviction - Appellant sought an order permitting him to adduce new and/or additional evidence relating to the plea of guilty by the victim's husband to a s. 3 assault causing harm charge in relation to the assault of the appellant - Convictions are unsafe because of the inadequacy of legal representation afforded to the appellant prior to and/or at trial - Appeal dismissed
People (DPP) v Anderson, Christina
13/2/2024 No. 192/2023 [2024] IECA 50
Criminal law - Offence of manslaughter on ground of diminished responsibility - Appellant sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment with the final three years suspended - Dispute over use of car parking spaces assigned to appellant's house without permission - Victim stabbed in the chest - Appellant suffering from a mental disorder - Psychotic episode - Appeal against severity of sentence - Whether judge erred in her nomination of the adjusted headline sentence - Insufficient reduction for mitigation - Appeal dismissed
Immigration
A v Minister for Justice and ors; B v International Protection Appeals Tribunal, Minister for Justice and ors
22/3/2024 Nos. 2023/640 JR, 2023/104 JR [2024] IEHC 183
Immigration - International protection - United Kingdom - Safe country designation - Rwanda policy - Applicants refused asylum in the UK - Refused admittance to the Irish protection process - Decision to return them to the UK for processing of their protection claims in reliance on its safe country designation - Threat of serious harm - Art. 3(3) of the Dublin III Regulations - Absence of safeguards - Whether Minister for Justice's designation of the UK as a 'safe third country' was unlawful and ultra vires her powers - Court proposes granting a declaration that the designation of the United Kingdom and Great Britain as a safe third country pursuant to the 2020 Designation Order is contrary to Ireland's obligations under EU law
Injunctions
Duddy Hospitality Ireland Holdings Limited, Brendan Duddy and Lawrence Duddy v Propiteer Ireland Holdings Limited, Propiteer Limited and ors
9/4/2024 No. 2023/2381 P [2024] IEHC 190
Injunction - Company law - Injunction applications - Hotel - Ownership - Sale - Transfer - Dispute - Failure to fulfil obligations - Alleged breaches of the Settlement Agreement and Call Options Agreement - Misappropriation of funds - Application for injunction restraining the second, fourth and fifth defendants from making any alterations to the board of directors of the companies controlling the hotel - Application for injunction to restrain receivers from selling or disposing of the hotel - Injunctions refused
Landlord and Tenant
Foot Locker Retail Ireland Limited v Percy Nominees Limited
22/3/2024 No. 2022/26 [2024] IECA 65
Landlord and tenant - Retail store - Contract - Commercial lease - Payment of rent - Frustration of contract - Covid-19 pandemic - Ministerial regulations - Closure requirements - Obligation on tenant to pay rent during period of closure - High Court proceedings - Tenant obliged to pay rent without deductions - Plaintiff/appellant appealing the decision - Whether the concept of frustration of a lease being 'partial' or 'temporary' exists - Submissions - Appeal dismissed
Mental Health
Health Service Executive (HSE) v J (A) (a person alleged to lack capacity) to be represented by their Guardian Ad Litem, In the matter of
12/3/2024 No. 2023/265 MCA [2024] IEHC 166
Mental health - Capacity - Applicant seeking orders to transfer the respondent from his current placement in an acute hospital unit setting (the approved centre) to an alternative residential setting and to detain him in that alternative placement (residential setting) - Jurisdiction - S. 9 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961 - Whether the Court has jurisdiction to make orders for the transfer and detention of a person alleged to lack capacity - Transfer based on urgency and therapeutic rationale - Safeguards and reviews - Matter listed for further submissions
Partnership Law
Foran, Mark v Flood, William and Michael Hughes
22/3/2024 No. 2018/1468 S [2024] IEHC 180
Partnership law - Partnership agreement - Investment - Purchase of land - Property development - Planning permission - Investment issues - Partnership account - Withdrawals - Losses incurred - Contributions - Obligations to repay - Plaintiff alleges that in resolving the outstanding liabilities of the firm he paid over and above the contribution to the losses which was due from him - Plaintiff seeks to recover from the remaining partners the amounts due from them as their contributions to the losses incurred by the firm - Judgment awarded to the plaintiff against the defendants
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