The High Court yesterday dismissed as "totally misconceived" a bid to attach Judge Patrick Moran of the Circuit Court for alleged contempt of High Court orders in comments made by him relating to a construction company.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh was also strongly critical of the manner in which the motion to attach Judge Moran was brought on behalf of O'Flynn Construction Company Ltd and said that orders of the High Court in the matter had been misrepresented by the company's solicitors and reflected badly on them.
On February 20th last, Judge Moran fined the company €200,000 for health and safety breaches at a construction site. The charges arose after a nine-year-old boy, Stephen Long, died on the company's site at Clarke's Hill, Rochestown, Cork, in February 2001 when a barrel of wood preservative exploded there.
The company claimed that Judge Moran's involvement in the case against it should have ceased on February 20th after it pleaded guilty and was fined. When Judge Moran indicated on February 21st that he had concerns arising from TV reports related to the case, the company went to the High Court on February 24th and sought leave to seek orders in judicial review proceedings restraining Judge Moran from re-entering the case. Notwithstanding that, it complained that Judge Moran had proceeded on February 25th to refer to the case.
It said that while Judge Moran had said he did not intend to increase the penalty he had imposed, he went on to say that, after the case, he had watched the RTÉ television news and, while he had been told the barrel was in a field, what he saw on television showed it was clearly not in a field.
Judge Moran had said he wanted the matter investigated by the DPP.
Arising from those remarks, Mr Peter Finlay SC, for the company, was granted leave on February 26th to serve a motion for attachment on Judge Moran.
Refusing that application yesterday, Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said the High Court orders had not restrained any action by Judge Moran and no stay of any kind was placed. He was also satisfied that the matters complained of did not demonstrate any arguable case that Judge Moran's conduct would prevent a fair outcome of the company's appeal against severity of sentence to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
While the company's fears that Judge Moran intended to re-enter the matter to punish it further may have been genuinely held, they proved groundless, the judge added.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh stressed that he was dealing only with a motion in judicial review proceedings, and issues such as whether Judge Moran had jurisdiction to deal further with the case had to be dealt with in those proceedings. He suggested that the parties should consider whether those proceedings might be moot in light of his rulings yesterday. He added that legal authorities suggested that an application to attach a judge would not lie except in perhaps the most exceptional circumstances.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Finlay had asked Mr Justice Ó Caoimh to excuse himself from hearing the motion. Counsel said that the judge had acted for the Revenue Commissioners in a matter involving his clients. Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said he had no recollection of the proceedings referred to and declined to excuse himself. The motion then proceeded.
Earlier, Mr Justice Ó Caoimh criticised on a number of occasions matters relating to the legal documents. He said a letter from a solicitor acting for the company was a "grotesque misrepresentation" of the leave order granted by the High Court.
