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Can you refuse to go to court?

  • 15-12-2014 8:23pm
    #1
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭


    In this case it is said one of the defendents refused to come to court. Is it because it is a civil case? Do you not have to go to court

    "Judge Comerford, said the petrol station had no CCTV evidence to sustain their allegations and the staff member had refused to come to court."


Comments

  • #2
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Yes, the staff member was not on trial simply a witness. It was the company being sued - they may or may not have had a representative there. Very boring tbh and nothing to do. The Barrister does all the work.

    Can the defence subpoena an employee of it's own company?

    I suspect a settlement was offered and rejected by the plaintiff, as there seems to be very little defence.


  • #3
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Given that pic make-up-artists must be pretty bloody amazing.


  • #4
    flynn2426
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 57 ✭✭flynn2426


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    Yes, the staff member was not on trial simply a witness. It was the company being sued - they may or may not have had a representative there. Very boring tbh and nothing to do. The Barrister does all the work.

    Can the defence subpoena an employee of it's own company?

    I suspect a settlement was offered and rejected by the plaintiff, as there seems to be very little defence.


    Great reply, well done


  • #5
    smcgiff
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,943 ✭✭✭smcgiff


    €9k is very cheap to have your face splashed all over the papers and have your reputation open for debate.


  • #6
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭Yorker


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    Yes, the staff member was not on trial simply a witness. It was the company being sued - they may or may not have had a representative there. Very boring tbh and nothing to do. The Barrister does all the work.

    Can the defence subpoena an employee of it's own company?

    I suspect a settlement was offered and rejected by the plaintiff, as there seems to be very little defence.
    Can they? The company was being sued even thought it was the staff members actions?


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  • #7
    Tzardine
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,885 ✭✭✭Tzardine


    Yorker wrote: »
    Can they? The company was being sued even thought it was the staff members actions?

    Vicarious liability :)

    She could sue both.


  • #8
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Tzardine wrote: »
    Vicarious liability :)

    She could sue both.

    However for clarity OP this is different to forcing the witness to come to court which is possible.


  • #9
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭Yorker


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    However for clarity OP this is different to forcing the witness to come to court which is possible.
    which do you mean is possible? Sue both? Then he would be a defendent and have to go?

    In a criminal trial a witness has to go? Someone did a very dangerous car move near me today. If he had caused an accident and the garda knew i had seen it in would have to give evidence?


  • #10
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Yorker wrote: »
    which do you mean is possible? Sue both? Then he would be a defendent and have to go?

    I forget the name of it but there is a process for deciding who is ultimately going to be a defendant. Let's say you slip over in Lidl taking it to an extreme you sue:

    -The shopping centre
    -The shop
    -The employee doing the mopping
    -The cleaning company
    -The security guard who was meant to keep people clear

    Realistically though you look for the deep pockets so you end up with the shop and the centre and maybe the cleaning company. My tort law is a distant memory but there's a famous case involving a forklift if I remember that serves as a cautionary tale in relation to no suing everyone and being left with no one to sue.
    Yorker wrote: »
    In a criminal trial a witness has to go? Someone did a very dangerous car move near me today. If he had caused an accident and the garda knew i had seen it in would have to give evidence?

    In either case (civil or criminal) a witness can be compelled to go.


  • #11
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭Yorker


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    I forget the name of it but there is a process for deciding who is ultimately going to be a defendant. Let's say you slip over in Lidl taking it to an extreme you sue:

    -The shopping centre
    -The shop
    -The employee doing the mopping
    -The cleaning company
    -The security guard who was meant to keep people clear

    Realistically though you look for the deep pockets so you end up with the shop and the centre and maybe the cleaning company. My tort law is a distant memory but there's a famous case involving a forklift if I remember that serves as a cautionary tale in relation to no suing everyone and being left with no one to sue.



    In either case (civil or criminal) a witness can be compelled to go.
    but then how could the the guy in this case refuse to go as the judge said


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  • #12
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Yorker wrote: »
    but then how could the the guy in this case refuse to go as the judge said

    Probably because he was simply asked and not compelled. There are many reasons why you might not want to force someone to be a witness.

    In the instant case I suspect (pure conjecture) that the company offered a settlement and the plaintiff refused, the case then proceeds to trial, the quickest, cheapest and least damaging to the company concerned is to get it over quickly so they essentially lie back and think of England until an award is made by the Judge.


  • #13
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭Yorker


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    Probably because he was simply asked and not compelled. There are many reasons why you might not want to force someone to be a witness.

    In the instant case I suspect (pure conjecture) that the company offered a settlement and the plaintiff refused, the case then proceeds to trial, the quickest, cheapest and least damaging to the company concerned is to get it over quickly so they essentially lie back and think of England until an award is made by the Judge.
    Oh i see. i was surprised the judge said it but i understand now


  • #14
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Yorker wrote: »
    Oh i see. i was surprised the judge said it but i understand now

    TBH you've got to be careful of what's written in the press, they try and sex things up. It's very easy to sex up the most mundane pieces of procedure in a court case.


  • #15
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭Yorker


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    TBH you've got to be careful of what's written in the press, they try and sex things up. It's very easy to sex up the most mundane pieces of procedure in a court case.
    i know but they would hardly quote a judge if he had not said it

    "Judge Comerford, said the petrol station had no CCTV evidence to sustain their allegations and the staff member had refused to come to court."


  • #16
    Pat Mustard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,554 ✭✭✭Pat Mustard


    Yorker wrote: »
    i know but they would hardly quote a judge if he had not said it

    The press are capable of anything. They get names wrong and and they misquote people all the time.

    One would hope that they would be less likely to misquote a judge but you couldn't trust them.


  • #17
    Yorker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 164 ✭✭Yorker


    The Mustard wrote: »
    The press are capable of anything. They get names wrong and and they misquote people all the time.

    One would hope that they would be less likely to misquote a judge but you couldn't trust them.
    true
    hopefully


  • #18
    braddun
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,221 ✭✭✭braddun


    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/witnesses/who_can_be_forced_to_be_a_witness.html


  • #19
    234
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭234


    braddun wrote: »
    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/witnesses/who_can_be_forced_to_be_a_witness.html

    That's for criminal trials. For civil you would be looking at using various kinds of subpoenas.


  • #20
    flynn2426
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 57 ✭✭flynn2426


    MarkAnthony wrote: »
    TBH you've got to be careful of what's written in the press, they try and sex things up. It's very easy to sex up the most mundane pieces of procedure in a court case.

    Sex things up?


  • #21
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    flynn2426 wrote: »
    Sex things up?

    A court case is a long drawn out affair; even the most salacious cases are 95% routine. It's very easy to take something out of context or not report the whole fact, indeed, it's impossible to report all the facts or Newspapers would be a million pages long.

    A typical example is Judge Carney; He does a huge amount of sentencing the majority of it is bang on. A small number of cases and some of his quirks make him out to be bonkers. Example Anthony Lyons - the legislation (legislations trumps Judges, generally) required he take compensation into account. This fact was not widely reported either by accident or design.

    Another example is the reporting of a recent case where Judge Ring 'apologised' to two men, due to delay, who had been involved in a case where a girl had been raped. It was widely made out that these guys had been involved in a gang-rape. What had actually happened (or at least what got to court) was defilement.

    Basically what you read in the papers is there to sell papers. You're better off taking a seat and watching for yourself. If you're at a loose end one rainy afternoon it's well worth stepping into the CCJ or Four Courts.


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