Case law update -  24 October

Recent superior court cases cover criminal law, discrimination, employment law, European arrest warrants, financial services, insurance law, personal injuries, planning and development, practice and procedure and more.

Recent cases published on the Courts website are listed below.

Criminal Law

People (DPP) v M (L)

26/6/2024 No. 248/2021 [2024] IECA 228

Criminal law - Offences of rape and sexual assault - Complainant a 15-year-old child - Appeal against conviction - People (DPP) v P O'C [2006] 3 IR 238 - Refusal of the trial judge to permit a recall and further cross-examination of the complainant - Failure of the trial judge to withdraw the case from the jury on the PO'C ground - Delay in reporting incident - Unfair trial - Appeal dismissed

People (DPP) v Brereton, Daniel

27/6/2024 No. 36/2024 [2024] IECA 226

Criminal law - Sentencing - Drug offences, possession and possession for sale or supply - Appellant sentenced to 6 years imprisonment - Appeal against severity of sentence - Court's approach to presumptive minimum sentence - No error in principle in the sentencing judge's reduction of the headline sentence - Appeal dismissed

Discrimination

O'Reilly, Bridget v Atlantic Troy Limited; Dinny O'Neill v Atlantic Troy Limited

9/9/2024 Nos. 2022/1138 JR; 2022/1140 JR [2024] IEHC 541

Discrimination - Judicial review - Members of the traveller community - Homeless - Hotel accommodation refused - No rooms available - Rooms booked online with debit card - Compensation claim - Claim against the respondent before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) - Adjudication Officer of WRC found in favour of the applicants - Compensation awarded - Respondent appeal to Circuit Court - Policy requiring credit card to book rooms - Appeal successful - Whether the Circuit Court judge acted in breach of natural and constitutional justice was biased, over-interventionist and failed or refused to have regard to the material before him - Circuit Court judge's use of  the term 'itinerant' in respect of the applicants - Whether language used was inappropriate and derogatory - Circuit Court's decision and orders quashed - Appeal from the WRC should be remitted to the Circuit Court to be dealt with by a different judge

Employment Law

Yoon, Haeseo v Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

18/9/2024 No. 2023/122 JR [2024] IEHC 548

Employment law - Judicial review - Tattoo artist - Employment permit - Eligibility - Application for employment permit refused - Applicant seeks to challenge the refusal decision made by an officer of the respondent - Whether the officer fettered her discretion by not engaging properly with the of the reasons why the applicant said she was entitled to the permit - Whether the officer erred by not providing adequate reasons for the decision - Order of certiorari granted quashing the respondent’s decision - Matter remitted for consideration by a different officer of the respondent

European Arrest Warrant

Minister for Justice and Equality v Puk, Ludwik Jozef

28/8/2024 No. 2024/145 EXT [2024] IEHC 537

European arrest warrant - Warrant issued by judicial authority in Poland - Conviction for assault - Enforcement of prison sentence - Respondent objects to his surrender - Surrender is prohibited under s. 45 of the EAW Act 2003 as it is unclear if the Respondent was present or properly made aware of the 'trial resulting in the decision' - Surrender would interfere with the respondent's rights under Art. 8 of the ECHR - Family life - Psychiatric condition - Objections dismissed

Financial Services

Ulster Bank Ireland DAC v Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman; and U H K, F K and K C (notice parties)

20/9/2024 No. 2023/256 [2024] IECA 231

Financial services - Mortgages - Borrowers - Range of interest rates - Tracker rate - Entitlement to move to another rate - Reduction in monthly payments - Whether or not the notice parties having switched their interest rate, had a legal entitlement to move back to an interest rate that has become more attractive than it previously was - Request refused - Complaint to ombudsman upheld - Compensation - High Court appeal - Decisions of FSPO affirmed - Bank granted leave to appeal - Questions of law - Appeal against High Court judgment allowed - Orders made

Insurance Law

Marlin Apartments Limited Trading as Marlin Hotel Dublin v Allianz plc

19/9/2024 No. 2021/1485 P [2024] IEHC 550

Insurance law - Hotel - Insurance policy - Covid-19 pandemic - Government decision to impose restrictions - Business interruption - Provisions of the policy - Extensions of cover - Plaintiff seeks to be indemnified by the defendant insurer in respect of losses alleged to have been sustained by it as a consequence of the restrictions imposed on the normal operation of its premises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic - Whether plaintiff has established any entitlement to an indemnity - Plaintiff's claim dismissed

Personal Injuries

Beechinor, James (orse Donie) v Allied Irish Banks plc

22/7/2024 No. 2019/1877 P [2024] IEHC 488

Personal injuries - Banking - Current account - Irregularities - Unauthorised activities - Fraud - Plaintiff clams to have suffered nervous shock and PTSD - Damages claim for negligence on tort and liability - Breach of contract - Restitution of the monies - Apology - Damages awarded to the plaintiff in the sum of €20,000

Planning and Development

An Bord Pleanala v Patton Bros Quarry Ltd, in the matter of Section 50 (1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended

11/9/2024 No. 2023/329 SP [2024] IEHC 546

Planning and development - Practice and procedure - Question of law - S. 50(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 - Live issue - Respondent application for substitute consent - Ss. 117D and 177E of the Planning and Development Act 2000 - Inspector’s report - Board seeks the directions of the court as to how it should resolve the situation which has occurred by the Board making an admitted error - Court direction that the decision on the application under section 177E is made under section 177K within a specified timeframe

Practice and Procedure

Allied Irish Banks plc and Everyday Finance DAC v Doran, Thomas J

2/9/2024 No. 2010/2596 S [2024] IEHC 522

Practice and procedure - Loan agreements - Debt recovery - Plaintiff application to enforce a deed of settlement - Defendant contends the deed not properly executed and is unenforceable and any agreement between the parties is vitiated by mistake - Whether the dispute can be resolved within the present proceedings - Absence of a mechanism which would allow the court to determine that dispute on a summary basis - Proceedings adjourned - Application refused - Submissions invited on whether the parties wished to pursue the existing proceedings or to issue fresh proceedings

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