The High Court has apportioned responsibility between Limerick County Council and its engineering consultants after a couple’s home in Annoholty, Birdhill, Co. Tipperary, was mistakenly demolished during preparations for the N7 Nenagh–Limerick road scheme.
Mr Justice Binchy ruled that the council was responsible for 30% of the plaintiffs’ damages and RPS Consulting Engineers Ltd and Egis Route-ScetaRoute SA, a joint venture, for 70%. Midland Fencing Ltd was exempted from contributing. The order addressed responsibility among the defendants for a settlement already agreed with the plaintiffs; the judgment does not disclose the settlement amount.
The house, known as the Hollows, was demolished on 4 September 2006. The plaintiffs were renovating it, and a planning notice was displayed at the property. The error arose after the council’s records and a photograph mistakenly linked the house to plot 156a, which was listed as a derelict house and land. The council later directed that plot 156a be added to the demolition contract, and the photograph of the plaintiffs’ home was used to identify the property to be demolished.
The judge found that both the council and RPS contributed to the mistake. The council had wrongly identified the property and failed to ensure staff working on the project were familiar with site boundaries and key documents. RPS should have queried the instruction to add the property, checked its location against the project’s demolition list and ensured resident engineers understood the site boundaries. The judge also found fault in RPS’s supervision and in its failure to address earlier concerns about site conditions.
The court found the defendants owed the plaintiffs a duty of care and were concurrent wrongdoers. It rejected the argument that RPS’s later actions broke the chain of causation from the council’s instruction. The demolition was the result of a sequence of acts and omissions, rather than one isolated decision.
The judge did not find Midland negligent. Its representatives had been shown a photograph, taken around the site by an RPS resident engineer, and told the house was to be demolished. In the circumstances, the court considered it reasonable for the contractor to rely on those instructions. Midland was therefore entitled to a full indemnity from the council and RPS for any liability to the plaintiffs.
The parties had agreed during the trial that the defendants found liable would pay the settlement sum and the plaintiffs’ costs in the proportions set by the court. The settlement also provided for rent at €700 per month, or part of a month, from 15 January 2015 until the defined payment date. The judgment does not state the final payment date or disclose the settlement terms.