A court is the last place a dispute between neighbours should end up, said a judge who struck out a case on Thursday involving a dispute over a Dublin cat’s toilet tendencies.
Circuit Court Judge James McCourt heard solicitor Michael Nugent and his wife, Anna, recorded what Coco the cat got up to night and day in their newly laid-out front garden on Mountain View Road, Ranelagh, over a period of 18 months.
They brought Coco’s owner, Geraldine Kennedy, who lived across the road from them, to court demanding damages for nuisance and restraints on the cat’s trespassing and defecating in their garden.
A District Court judge awarded the Nugents €6,000 damages against Ms Kennedy and threw out her counter claim for compensation for harassment and restraining orders against Mr Nugent, who was filmed persistently ringing her door bell and rapping the door knocker.
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Ms Kennedy appealed the award of damages against her, which came before Judge McCourt in the Circuit Court.
Neither party went into evidence before Judge McCourt, who watched excerpts of Coco relieving himself in the Nugents’ garden and then hiding the evidence in the soil.
The judge appealed to the parties to sit down and talk things out in a neighbourly fashion, but was told by barrister Stephen Fennelly, who appeared with Kay Cogan, of Cogan Daly Solicitors, for Ms Kennedy, that neither party was willing to come to an agreement and the court would have to decide.
Mr Nugent, who appeared for and represented himself and his wife, told the court Coco dug up seeds and pawed soil from under and around the roots of flowers they had planted.
“A court of law is the last place a dispute between neighbours should end up,” the judge told both parties.
He said Ms Kennedy pleaded she was a responsible pet owner by allowing her cat out, which she was entitled to do, and that cats did go up or across the road to gardens to do what came natural to them. He said he could not see any evidence of the Kennedy cat damaging the Nugent garden with his small paws, but he could see it pawing the soil.
“Quite honestly this is something I believe should move on,” he said.
He said he did not think cats could be put on a lead when allowed out for their constitutionals. His was not a criminal court and the people before him were civilised people living in a civilised neighbourhood.
Judge McCourt said he was prepared to spend whatever hours were necessary to view all the videos and listen to all of the evidence.
However, following the lunch adjournment, he was told he could vacate the lower court’s orders and strike out the appeal with no order for costs.
