An action by a GAA footballer, who claimed he had to undergo an emergency operation after sustaining serious injuries when struck in the abdomen during a match, has been resolved without admission of liability, the High Court was told yesterday.
Michael Miller (47), of Monafin, Tomnalossett, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, claimed that, while playing on November 2nd, 1996, for Enniscorthy Starlights against another Enniscorthy team, Duffry Rovers, he was struck a violent blow in his lower abdomen by a member of the opposing team.
Mr Miller claimed he was taken to Wexford Hospital, where he was diagnosed as having suffered a major tear in part of the small bowel. He underwent an emergency operation the following day, and was detained in hospital until November 14th, 1996.
He took proceedings against the trustees of the GAA and nominated representatives of Oylgate GAA, as owners of the sportsground where the game was played.
When the case came before Mr Justice Abbott yesterday, he was told the sides had resolved their differences, and the proceedings could be struck out with no order.
Date set for Coman family dispute case
The High Court has fixed July 13th for the hearing of a multi-million euro dispute between Mr Patrick and Ms Mary Coman, founders of Coman's pub in Rathgar and a wholesale drink business, and five of their sons.
Mr Coman (80) and his wife, Mary (70), of Grosvenor Road, Rathgar, Dublin, who reared a family of six sons and six daughters, are denying claims by five of their six sons that, at a meeting early last year, attended by senior counsel and solicitors, a final settlement was concluded in disputes between the parents and the five sons.
Four of the sons - Geoffrey, Patrick jnr, Thomas and Denis - are involved in the drinks business, while the fifth, John, is a solicitor. The sixth son, William, is not involved in the litigation.
The five sons claim the settlement of February 2003 involved their parents resigning immediately as directors of the companies and being paid some €7 million for their shareholdings. The parents claim there was no signed agreement, and both sides have given different accounts of what occurred at the settlement meeting.
Addict jailed for crime spree
A Dublin drug addict who committed over 40 crimes in less than a year, including dousing a service station assistant with petrol and threatening to burn him, has been jailed for 13 years.
Gary Hall (31), Hill Street, Summerhill, "undoubtedly committed the greatest litany of crime I have ever had to deal with," Judge Frank O'Donnell said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
His crime spree also included locking an 86-year-old man in his kitchen while robbing him; armed robbery at the National Irish Bank in College Green on April 4th, 2002; hiding in the house of a Sutton woman who discovered him in her bedroom on July 11th, 2002; and a spate of knife-point robberies from various Xtravision and convenient stores across Dublin.
Judge O'Donnell said he wanted Hall to serve eight years for all the offences and suspended the last five years of the 13-year total sentence.