The Supreme Court has allowed Paul Reid’s appeal against a High Court decision that removed his civil claim from a jury. It set aside that order and sent the case back to the High Court for a full hearing. The Court did not decide whether the Gardaí acted unlawfully or whether Reid is entitled to damages.
The claim followed Reid’s arrest at his Waterford apartment in February 2011 under a bench warrant issued after another man, who had given Reid’s name and date of birth, failed to attend court in Dublin. The judgment says there was no dispute that Reid was not the person arrested over the alleged theft of a sports jersey from a Dublin shopping centre in May 2010.
Reid said the Gardaí knocked once, did not identify themselves, then forced their way into the apartment and arrested him. The Gardaí said they repeatedly identified themselves, announced the warrant and warned that they could force entry. The Supreme Court noted the conflict in the evidence and said that, at the stage when the respondents sought to have the case withdrawn from the jury, the evidence had to be considered in the light most favourable to Reid.
The Court said a jury could find the Gardaí’s conduct reasonable, but the disputed account of what happened at the door was a matter for the jury to resolve. It rejected the argument that Reid’s decision not to answer the knock made the dispute immaterial: he had said he would have opened the door if he had known the callers were Gardaí.
Reid was held overnight, released on bail and later appeared in Dublin. The charge was struck out on 5 April 2011 after the prosecuting Garda confirmed he was not the person arrested in the shopping-centre case.
The appeal was limited. Reid did not challenge the High Court’s conclusion that the warrant justified the arrest itself, and the Supreme Court said it was unnecessary to decide whether arresting someone wrongly named on a warrant could give rise to a separate claim. Any assessment of damages, including whether exemplary or punitive damages might be available, remains for the court hearing the case if the parties do not resolve it.