Farmer awarded €300,000 in damages

CO TIPPERARY farmer John Hanrahan has secured just over €300,000 damages at the High Court over the failure of the Department of Agriculture to return to him 223 of a total of 355 cattle seized from his farm following a dispute about their welfare.

Mr Hanrahan, who previously won a landmark case over damage to his animals from pollution from a neighbouring drug manufacturing factory, had sued the Minister for Agriculture and Food over the seizure and subsequent sale of the cattle.

The department seized 355 cattle from the dairy herd belonging to Mr Hanrahan at his farm at Ballcurkeen, Carrick-on-Suir, over two days on March 15th and 16th, 2006. The High Court later found welfare issues justified the seizure at that time.

An agreement was reached between Mr Hanrahan and the department on April 11th, 2006, under which a number of cattle would be returned to Mr Hanrahan’s farm so as to bring the total number of animals up to a maximum 328 livestock units.

The department later accused Mr Hanrahan of failure to comply with the agreement and said the Minister intended to sell some animals. The Minister returned some of the animals to Mr Hanrahan and sold 223 others for €55,250 on June 2nd, 2006.

In his judgment on proceedings by Mr Hanrahan in June 2009, Mr Justice Bryan McMahon found the Minister had breached the April 2006 agreement in failing to deliver the 223 cattle back and by selling them.

Yesterday, Mr Justice McMahon addressed the issue of damages due to Mr Hanrahan over the Minister’s breach of agreement.

The judge rejected various arguments by the Minister as to how Mr Hanrahan’s loss should be assessed, including an argument the losses should be assessed by reference only to the value of the animals as of May 5th, 2006, plus interest at 3 per cent per annum from then to the court’s decision.

The judge ruled the court’s task now – 4½ years after the breach of contract – was to compensate Mr Hanrahan for the failure to return the cattle on May 5th, 2006.

Mr Hanrahan must also be compensated for the losses incurred because of the delay necessarily involved in determining the dispute over the Minister’s liability in the matter.

What had to be returned to Mr Hanrahan was 223 animals of various classes and ages and, in this sense, the cohort of 223 animals as of May 2006 was a renewing asset and not a wasting one, he said.

Mr Hanrahan had to be put as near as possible in the position in which he would have been had the animals been returned as agreed.

After allowing for several matters, the judge put a current value of €141,230 on the 223 animals. He awarded a further €145,000 for loss of income arising from the fact the animals were not returned, less €18,000 for money Mr Hanrahan had received for letting out his milk quota from 2006.

He also awarded €25,000 for stress, upset and inconvenience to Mr Hanrahan arising from the department’s breach of agreement.

Further smaller sums brought the total to €304,320.

Previous Hanrahan victory pharamaceutical company case

Co Tipperary farmer John Hanrahan previously came to prominence in the 1980s when he won a high-profile battle against pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp Dohme over emissions which, he alleged, had decimated his dairy herd.

His milk quota was suspended due to the pollution and he claimed the refusal of the department to pay money owed to him caused serious cash flow problems and difficulties providing feed and fodder for his herd.

The Hanrahan family first complained about pollution from the Merck Sharp Dohme plant in 1978, two years after it opened next to their farm. He and his neighbours complained of breathing difficulties and he said his cattle’s eyes were affected by plant emissions.

Several reports were commissioned and, while monitoring continued, cattle began to die on the Hanrahan farm. Some 200 had died by the end of 1986.

The Hanrahan family initiated legal proceedings against Merck Sharp Dohme in January 1982, but it took three years for the case to come to court. The case, which opened before the High Court in February 1985, was to become one of the longest civil cases in the history of the State at that stage.

The Hanrahans produced 30 witnesses over 21 days and the company put 30 witnesses on the stand over the following 23 days. The High Court found against Mr Hanrahan but he appealed. The Supreme Court ruled in his favour and against the company in July 1988.

The familys victory led to a major change in government attitudes in the jobs-versus-environment debate and a few years after the ruling the Environmental Protection Agency was set up.