The Supreme Court has sent Kevin Tracey’s motion in his case against Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Limited and four individuals back to the High Court for rehearing.
In a judgment dated 30 July 2019, Mr Justice John MacMenamin said the High Court order should not stand. He remitted the motion for rehearing, subject to the observations in a related judgment delivered that day in Tracey v Irish Times Limited & Others. The judgment does not state the terms of those observations or set out the High Court order being challenged.
The case concerns an Irish Independent article published on 17 September 2017 under the headline “Man assaulted neighbour over children’s game”. The judgment recounts that the article reported Mr Tracey had been convicted of assaulting a neighbour. The newspaper offered a clarification about the use of “convicted”, while maintaining that the District Court judge had referred to an order under the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 as a conviction.
The judgment also records that Mr Tracey’s statement of claim included correspondence and a proposed clarification he wanted published. He had sought €1.5 million, indexed to the value at the time, for himself, his wife and family, before 23 October 2008. The judgment does not say that this sum was awarded or that the Supreme Court decided the underlying claim.
The source recounts the article’s account of the earlier dispute and District Court proceedings; it does not make fresh findings about those events. The Supreme Court’s stated decision was to set aside the High Court order and return the motion for rehearing.