John J Morrissey BL

John has extensive experience in all levels of the court in Ireland, and in Northern Ireland.  His Superior Court expertise includes a substantial administrative law practice.  He has acted for applicants in the judicial review of acts and decisions of local authorities, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, An Bord Pleanála, the Garda Commissioner, the Medical Council, district judges, and Her Majesty’s Passport Office.  Other areas of his practice include planning matters, defamation, personal injuries, construction disputes, nuisance, trespass-to-land, issues relating to title, and a wide range of cases involving professional negligence (involving doctors, solicitors, and an architect).

John also has a particular interest in regulatory crime, and has acted for the prosecutor and for the accused in planning, building control, fire services, waste, health and safety, and other regulatory matters.

John has acted for clients in numerous arbitrations and mediations and is well-suited for appointment as the neutral in a dispute.  He is on the panel of arbitrators and mediators of Juris Resolutions, an alternative dispute resolution company.

He has also appeared before the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, the Residential Institution Redress Board, the Coroner’s Court, the Residential Tenancies Board, the Taxing Master, the Law Society’s Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal and its Clients’ Complaints and Relations Committee, and the Northern Ireland Planning Appeal’s Commission, representing the Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland).

John was the junior in a series of related cases about a single development that raised questions of planning and building control enforcement, and involved a number of ex parte applications for injunctive relief, the right to a new commercial tenancy, trespass-to-land, and nuisance.  They include:

• Walsh v Dillon and ors 2017/7720 P (and Court of Appeal 2018/159)
• Walsh v River Dublin 1 SÀRL 2017/8315 P
• Lopez & ors v Bennetts 2017/8316 P
• Walsh v Corn Circle Limited Dublin Circuit Court 2017/7731
• River Dublin 1 SÀRL v Walsh 2019/5719 P
• Walsh v Dillon and anor 2020/1598 P

John was the junior for the plaintiff in Spackman v YouTube and Google 2017/3509 P, a defamation case that involved, inter alia, whether the defendants could avail of defences available to intermediary services providers under Directive 2000/31/EC (“the e-commerce directive”) and the European Communities (Directive 2000/31/EC) Regulations 2003 and the defence of innocent publication under the Defamation Act 2009.  It included an application for a “Norwich Pharmacal Order.”

John was the junior for the defendant in what has become the seminal authority for professional negligence, and which has come to be known as the “no transaction” case: ACC Bank v Johnston 2008/10559 P.  This case was the subject of a large number of judgments:

• [2010] IEHC 236
• [2011] IEHC 108
• [2011] IEHC 376
• [2011] IEHC 501
• [2011] IEHC 502

The findings in this case set a precedent for the assessment of damages, and concisely and clearly set out the law surrounding partnerships and liabilities between partners.

John was unled in the Supreme Court in Ahmed Khashaba v The Medical Council, the appeal of his client’s unsuccessful judicial review of the Medical Council: [2016] IESC 10.

Local Authority Enforcement

Morrissey, John J, Bloomsbury Professional, 2014, ISBN 978-1-780432-52-6

A practical and academic criminal textbook, primarily addressing the prosecution of regulatory offences. Encompasses enforcement by and the conduct of a variety of bodies, including local authorities, the EPA, Irish Water, and An Bord Pleanála.

Criminal Prosecutions under the Planning and Development Acts

Morrissey, John J, First Law, 2007, ISBN 978-1-904480-62-4

A practical criminal textbook addressing practice and procedure relating to the prosecution of regulatory offences, in particular those identified in the Planning and Development Acts.

Other

Planning and Environmental Law Manual, the Honorable Society of King’s Inns (in use since 2014)

Taxis and their Role in an Integrated Land Use/ Transportation Network, Thesis for Master of Regional and Urban Planning Degree, University College Dublin (1996)

John lectured in the Honorable Society of King’s Inns’ planning course from 2008 to 2016, and in its Arbitration course in 2011.  He re-designed the planning course in 2014 to encompass more environmental areas, including waste management, and set and marked exams.  He also lectured in Griffith College Dublin in 2007.

John has given a number of lectures and CPDs to a variety of bodies including the Irish Planning Institute, the enforcement section of various State bodies, and a range of solicitors’ organisations.  His topics usually involve regulatory enforcement.