Judgments: Key cases in brief

Court entitled to adjudicate debtor a bankrupt notwithstanding that he had been adjudicated a bankrupt in foreign country In re Sean Dunne (a bankrupt) [2015]IESC 42 (Supreme Court, Laffoy J, 15 May 2015) Supreme Court dismisses appeal from High Court, and affirms decision to refuse to annul adjudication of bankruptcy, on the basis that: (a) jurisdiction was not excluded solely by reason of the fact that a person had been adjudicated bankrupt in a foreign country; (b) the appellant's ground of appeal relating to domicile was moot and; (c) defective service of the proceedings caused no prejudice.

– Conor O’Higgins BL

Child and Family Agency not vicariously liable for damage to property where woman in its care had resided Ennis v Child and Family Agency [2015]IECA 105 (Court of Appeal, Kelly J, 18 May 2015) Court of Appeal allows appeal from the High Court, and set aside decision that the Child and Family Agency (CFA) was vicariously liable for damage done to a property (after it was broken into and a fire started) where a young woman in its care had previously lived, finding there was no basis for finding that a duty of care was owed by the CFA, or that there was any breach of such alleged duty.

– Ciaran Joyce BL

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Murder confession deemed admissible where allegations of inducements and oppressive Garda interrogation are not made out DPP v Doyle [2015]IECA 109 (Court of Appeal, Ryan P, 8 June, 2015) Court of Appeal dismisses appeal from conviction of murder in an apparent case of mistaken identity, finding that: 1) the murder confession was admissible where there were no threats or inducements that would render it inadmissible; 2) there was no breach of the accused's constitutional right to reasonable access to a lawyer; 3) the interrogation techniques employed by the gardaí were fair; 4) rulings in respect of the disclosure of telephone records between a key witness and her Garda liaison, the videos of interview shown to the jury and the re-examination of a witness were all correct; and 5) the judge's charge to the jury was satisfactory and in some respects favourable to the accused.

– Ciaran Joyce BL

Media group was in contempt of court in publishing material about an accused person DPP v Independent News [2015]IEHC 336 (High Court, O'Malley J, 24 April 2015) High Court finds media group to have committed the offence of contempt of court by publishing material which gratuitously identified and associated an accused person with particular types of behaviour relevant to charges to be considered by a jury, after the accused had been charged and returned for trial.

– Ciaran Joyce BL

Payments to company's overdrawn account prior to appointment of liquidator did not constitute fraudulent preference In re Tucon Process Installations Ltd; Tucon Process Installations Ltd v Governor & Company of the Bank of Ireland [2015]IEHC 312 (High Court, Hunt J, 1 May 2015) High Court refuses to order a bank to return three payments that were made by third parties into the applicant company's overdrawn current account in the period between the company notifying the bank that it was going into voluntary liquidation and the appointment of the liquidator at a creditors' meeting, finding that the payments were made in the ordinary course of business and did not constitute a fraudulent preference on the part of bank.

– Shane Kiely BL Local authority not liable for injury sustained while playing football on common area Fitzgerald v South Dublin County Council [2015]IEHC 343 (High Court, Barton J, 21 May 2015) High Court dismisses claim against local authority for personal injuries suffered by plaintiff who, as a young boy, fell on a broken bottle whilst playing football on a common area, on the grounds that the system of management and maintenance of the open green spaces devised and employed by the defendant prior to and at the time of the accident was reasonable and entirely appropriate for what was a general recreational area.

– Damian Byrne BL

Proceedings against local authority dismissed on grounds of delay Louis J O'Regan Ltd v Clare County Council [2015]IEHC 344 (High Court, Barton J, 21 May 2015) High Court dismisses 2007 claim against a local authority and another party in a dispute concerning the use of quarries for the supply of concrete to road project, on the grounds that inordinate and inexcusable delay attributable to the plaintiffs in the circumstances of this case – where there would necessarily be a heavy reliance upon oral evidence – was sufficiently prejudicial to the defence of the proceedings as would make the provision of a fair trial unlikely if not impossible.

– Damian Byrne BL

Child unborn on date of death of testator was entitled to bequest of €25,000 In re McCarthy; Gregory v McCarthy [2015]IEHC 311 (High Court, Hunt J, 17 April 2015) High Court, interpreting the terms of a last will and testament, finds that the deceased intended to bequeath the sum of €25,000 to his unborn grandchild, on the basis, inter alia, that "issue" encompassed children conceived but not yet born at the date of death of the testator.

– Conor O’Higgins BL

The full text of the judgments is available on courts.ie.

These reports were written and compiled by Stare Decisis Hibernia: StareDecisisHibernia.com