MS Michelle Rocca could face a substantial legal bill despite winning her assault case against her former fiance, the Ryanair director Mr Cathal Ryan.
A jury of six women and five men took just under two hours yesterday to decide that Mr Ryan had assaulted Ms Rocca during a party in Blackhall Stud near Clane, Co Kildare, in March 1992.
They accepted that he had been acting in defence of his companion, Ms Sarah Linton, but found that he had used more force than was necessary against Ms Rocca. However, the amount of damages - £7,500 - awarded to her opens up the possibility that she may have to pay a substantial legal bill.
Mr Justice Moriarty deferred making a decision on who should Pay the costs of the case until Friday of next week. The total costs of the two sides on a High Court scale are estimated to be close to £200,000 for the six days of the hearing.
In normal circumstances, where a defendant has lost a case, he or she is liable to pay the full costs of both legal teams. But the situation could be complicated in this case by the size of the damages award. Because this was under the £30,000 maximum award which the Circuit Court is entitled to make, lawyers for Mr Ryan would be entitled to argue that he should pay costs at the lower Circuit Court rate and that Ms Rocca should pay the balance.
Yesterday's award to Miss Rocca included no addition for aggravated damages. Mr Justice Moriarty had earlier told the jurors that if they felt the assault had been provoked - if Ms Rocca had been "the authoress of her own misfortune" - they could reflect this by awarding reduced aggravated damages, if any.
After the verdict, an emotional Ms Rocca read a hand-written statement to reporters. She first thanked the jury: "They found I was assaulted, which had been denied. Also, they found I had been treated with excessive force."
Accompanied by her fiance, Mr Van Morrison, she also thanked her legal team, her fiance, family and friends "for their loyal support" throughout the case.
Mr Ryan emerged from court to say it had been "a very, very long and arduous two weeks". He described what had happened as "most regrettable", adding: "It's even more regrettable in terms of this circus that has affected innocent bystanders, including children and Miss Sarah Linton. There were definitely no winners in this case. Mr Ryan's comment was echoed by a member of one of the legal teams, who suggested that the outcome was a "one-all draw".
The six-day hearing centred on events in March 1992 during a 30th birthday party organised by Ms June Moloney, whose husband was resident vet at Blackhall. Ms Rocca suffered a broken nose and 16 other injuries, mostly cuts and bruises, in what she said was an unprovoked assault by Mr Ryan after he had disappeared from the party and she had gone in search of him.
The incidents occurred in an upstairs bedroom in which, according to evidence, Mr Ryan and Ms Linton were resting before-returning home to Tipperary. Both they and another witness, the well-known hairdresser Mr David Marshall, testified that the row began with an attack by Ms Rocca on Ms Linton and that the plaintiff's injuries resulted from necessary restraint.
Evidence in the hearing was often bitter. Mr Justice Moriarty, who began the case by warning jurors that it would not be "a vicarage tea party", concluded his summary of the evidence yesterday by saying that the case had revealed the "considerable animus that has developed in a relationship that was once warm and passionate".
The case, heard in Court 4 of the Four Courts, was one of the most eagerly followed cases in Dublin for many years. All the seats were taken up by members of the press and the public, resulting in witnesses sometimes having to stand at the back while waiting to give evidence.