Litigation
McGarr Solicitors finalists for Personal Injury/Medical Negligence Law Firm of the Year
It’s always nice to get a little nod of recognition for the work you do. So we’re very pleased to announce that McGarr Solicitors have been nominated as finalists in the Travelers Irish Law Awards in the category of Personal Injury/ Medical Negligence Law Firm of the Year. What makes the recognition of our work sweeter was the quote from our client in the nomination. “You trusted me when I came to see you and I had nothing but my […]
Digital Rights Ireland: ECJ Judgment striking down Data Retention
The ECJ judgement on Digital Rights Ireland’s challenge to the EU’s data retention regime.
How to read the “news” on medical negligence
According to the Irish Independent, a High Court judge (Judge Irvine) has urged “an overhaul of negligence cases”. The newspaper goes on to report what the judge actually said; that she believes “new protocols and rules of disclosure would lead to early resolution and early admission of liability when justified” [in “medical negligence” cases]. There are two ideas in the judge’s beliefs, both good; that early resolution and early admission of liability are desirable goals, and that new protocols and […]
Litigation
Currently, in the Science Gallery of Trinity College at The Naughton Institute, Pearse St. Dublin 2, two items of interest are to be seen; an invention to assist child birth using gravity (no woman was consulted in the design of this machine) and the application for the patent on the invention. One is a machine and the other is an illustrated description of the machine. The words are more important than the illustrations. They were written by a US patent […]
Words, words, words
The new Chinese year, just commenced, is the Year of The Horse. We lost a lot when the horse ceased to be a major source of power and transport. Prior to that, practically everybody personally knew the meaning of phrases like; “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted” or “live, horse, and you will have grass”. We even knew what a cock-horse was. This knowledge shielded us from official obfuscation. No bulletin, however mendacious in its departure from […]
The Ambulance Service
Medical negligence is somewhat of a specialist area for lawyers. Not every solicitor will firstly recognise a culpable act of commission or omission by a medical person and secondly will know how to create a case that will win in court. The ambulance service, the humblest element of the health care system is the exception to this. When you call for an ambulance, you need it urgently, usually. The despatcher will, usually, elicit the cause or nature of the emergency […]
Class Actions
Britain and Ireland share many things, not least the weather. We share an approach to legal proceedings so, possibly, Ireland will follow the UK into a new form of legal proceedings, known as “collective action mechanisms”, “representative court actions“ or “class actions”. The UK experimented with consumer “opt-in” representative court action. That failed; it was used once. Now, the UK is proposing to introduce “opt-out” representative court actions for consumers. If it works for consumers its attractions may spread it […]
The Actio Popularis, Aarhus Convention and class actions in Ireland
Ireland currently has a limited form of class action. It is the “actio popularis”. It is not like the US form of class action; it is not of direct benefit to individual members of the public. They get the benefit when they are in the class that benefits from the judgment. They do not simply lodge their claim for compensation, say. The Irish courts have accepted “actio popularis” claims in only one such proceedings; Digital Rights Ireland Ltd. v The […]
Digital Rights Ireland: Oral Submission to the European Court of Justice on the Data Retention Directive
McGarr Solicitors act for Digital Rights Ireland. The case of Digital Rights Ireland Limited, seeking to challenge Data Retention, reached a significant milestone on the 9th July 2013, when the case was heard before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The ECJ had received a referral from the Irish High Court, asking it to rule on the question of whether the Data Retention Directive (Directive 2006/24, to its friends) was compatible with basic EU laws. You can read the […]
Trashing the Constitution
We are lawyers. Because we are lawyers we know that the Irish Constitution is of importance to our clients. The Constitution is not perfect but it is of immense value and, for example, can allow of the possibility of suing the State for wrongdoing. The current Government proposal to abolish the Seanad poses a threat to our clients. The threat comes from the destructive effect of the proposal on the Constitution. If the Seanad is abolished, very far-reaching changes to […]