Striking Out Proceedings For Inordinate And Inexcusable Delay

In Yvonne Casserly v Mary O'Connell, Practising as O'Connell & Co Solicitors [2013] IEHC 391, the High Court, in the context of an application to strike out the plaintiff's proceedings on the grounds of undue delay, considered the difficult question as to the balance that must be struck between two constitutionally inspired interests; namely, the right of access to the courts as against the right to have proceedings determined within a reasonable time. Facts In mid-2000, the plaintiff was involved in a serious road traffic accident in Spain and, upon her return to Ireland, she instructed the defendant solicitor (the "defendant") to initiate a personal injury claim on her behalf. The action had to be pursued in the Spanish courts; however, the proceedings were not commenced within the Spanish period of limitation for such an action and the plaintiff took an action against the defendant for professional negligence. The defendant asserted that, as she had engaged Spanish lawyers to bring the original action, any claim should be brought against them. Delay The professional negligence proceedings were commenced on 19 September 2005 but were not served on the defendant until 3 August 2006. A Statement of Claim was served in December 2006. Thereafter, the defendant immediately served a Notice for Particulars. Replies to that Notice for Particulars were prepared in July 2009, but through an oversight, were not served on the defendant's solicitors. Thus, while the...