Author Archives: Edward McGarr
Contaminated Irish Pork: who pays?
Each purchaser in a supply chain has a claim for breach of contract against the supplier. Thus, the shops and retailers generally in Ireland are obliged to make good the loss to the consumer by the breach of contract. That loss, currently is measured by the cost of the defective product. (The burden of proving the product is defective lies on the purchaser, but that is an issue unlikely to represent a problem).
Complaints and Remedies
The client has voluntarily transferred, or directed the transfer, of the money to the solicitor. On that ground alone the average policeman is immediately bemused at the beginning of any hypothetical investigation of a client’s complaint. It takes a specialised policeman, from a fraud squad, to conduct that investigation. In Ireland we have inadequate resources to investigate fraud.
As a practical matter, therefore, it is a necessary evil that the regulation of solicitors exist and that it apply with full force to the management of clients’ money.
The Intoxication of Government
And what are we to make of the expert group? We already pay for the personnel of the Law Reform Commission. Why should we have to pay for another group of persons duplicating its work?
Say nothing rather than something
Consequently, a reporter should not look for the “core” of his or her report in the pleadings or in the characterisation of the case by counsel or in some diatribe by the judge (unless he or she is working for a “red-top”; then, always go for the diatribe).
Managing Ireland
An executive failure (whether in the executive proper or in the administration of the Courts) is all the less forgivable when a good workable proposal is advanced by the Commission and then ignored.
The Doctors’ Bill
The extent of injury inflicted on hospital patients by clinical negligence is a case in point. We do not know what it is. When it happens the consequences are real. Somebody somewhere pays for the injury. Clearly, the victim suffers the injury and pays in that fashion. The family of the victim may pay in care deployed or care costs paid. Or, if the family consists of children of the victim, the children may suffer diminished life opportunities by being deprived of care they would have got from the victim.
Emma Duddy v North Western Health Board & Anor.
She suffers from cerebral palsy after the alleged mismanagement of her birth.
The Picture of Dorian Grey
It has been the practice of art galleries in Ireland to keep the very identity of purchasers secret from the artists who the gallery “represents”.