Courts

Judge urges experts to resolve neighbour dispute over hedge

‘Total humiliation’ for either side after 12 days of litigation not desirable, court told

Kathleen Rueter (R) and her daughter, Marian Rueter (L), of Clogga, Co Wicklow pictured arriving at the Four Courts for the second week of a High Court action Photograph: Courts Collins
Kathleen Rueter (R) and her daughter, Marian Rueter (L), of Clogga, Co Wicklow pictured arriving at the Four Courts for the second week of a High Court action Photograph: Courts Collins
Tue Dec 09 2014 - 19:08

The President of the High Court has asked experts in a bitter dispute between neighbours over a hedge to meet and thrash out a solution.

Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said he wanted to see if the engineer and surveyor could agree a way forward for both sides.

He made the comments during the continuing hearing of the case between James and Anne Madigan and neighbours Kathleen Maureen Rueter and her children Marian and Sean, over the lane way near Clogga Beach in Arklow, Co Wicklow.

The Rueters have appealed a Circuit Court order made in favour of the Madigans.

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The judge said the experts would approach the matter in terms of seeking a functioning, working resolution, whereas if the court has to decide the issue, one side will end up losing.

He would also have to take everything into account, including testimony before the court, and would have to decide who was being reasonable and who was being unreasonable.

Mr Justice Kearns, who had urged the parties to settle their differences before the case started last week, said it was very undesirable, after 12 days of litigation, six in the Circuit Court and five in the High Court, there would be “a total humiliation” for one side or the other. “That’s not how I would like to see this resolved,” he said.

The judge has previously warned costs in the High Court could run to hundreds of thousands of euro.

The Circuit Court awarded the Madigans €5,000 damages for trespass and nuisance and said they were entitled to a right of way on to the lane for the purpose of maintaining their hedge.

The Rueters, who run a caravan park near the beach, appealed that decision to the High Court.

At the centre of the case is the alleged widening of the entrance to the laneway where it meets the public road and which the Madigans claim encroaches on their property.

Mr Justice Kearns has asked that the surveyor on the Rueter side and an engineer for the Madigans meet first thing on Wednesday with a view to coming up with a solution.

The court heard yesterday the same two experts had brokered an agreement in 2012 and a boundary was agreed. The case continues.