The newly established commercial court has imposed its first penalty on a party appearing before it for delaying proceedings, The Irish Times has learned.
The plaintiff in a case called Leahy v Farrell had costs awarded against him by the court last May.
The court, set up on a pilot basis to hear commercial cases worth at least €1 million or cases entered at the discretion of the judge, began hearing cases last March. The court is a division of the High Court. It is presided over by Mr Justice Peter Kelly. Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan also sits in it.
It operates under new rules, which are aimed at encouraging parties to identify the real issues between them at an early stage. A wide variety of pre-trial procedures are prescribed in the rules. Cases are managed by the judge before whom they are listed, who lays down a timetable for the production of relevant documentation, and a programme of meetings between the parties.
Two innovations include allowing the judge to bring his or her own motion for an adjournment of the proceedings to allow the dispute to be referred to mediation, conciliation or arbitration, and a guarantee that there is always a judge available to hear the case.
Sixteen cases were listed between March and the end of June, and most of them were heard within a month of being listed. The first case, between Cavankee Fishing Co Ltd and the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, was entered on the list on February 13th. An interlocutory injunction, which was sought by the company, was refused at a hearing on March 4th, and the case was settled on April 23rd.
One of the fastest cases was that of Jennings v O'Leary, which was entered on the list on May 5th. It was listed for hearing on May 26th and was heard the next day. Judgment was delivered the same day. The entire process took three weeks.