The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by M.N. against High Court orders striking out her claims against the Health Service Executive, the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and Novartis.
The appeal concerned orders made by the High Court on 21 October 2022. The Court of Appeal, in a judgment delivered by Mr Justice Haughton on 4 May 2023, concluded that M.N. had not shown a basis to interfere with those orders. Justices Noonan and Allen agreed. The appeal’s dismissal leaves the High Court orders in place; the Court of Appeal did not make findings on the truth of the underlying allegations.
M.N., who acted as a lay litigant, had claimed that she suffered injuries while receiving care from the HSE and after being prescribed Rasilez Aliskiren, a medicine manufactured by Novartis. Her pleadings also alleged wrongdoing by gardaí, including failures in handling complaints. These were allegations advanced by M.N., not findings by the appeal court.
The High Court had dismissed the claims on several grounds. For the HSE claim, it cited failures to use the required personal-injury summons and provide the required particulars, the absence of supporting medical opinion, and limitation concerns for claims dating from 2011 to 2013. It also found no credible basis for the claims. The gardaí claims were dismissed for failing to disclose a reasonable cause of action and for lack of credible supporting evidence, among other reasons. The Novartis claim was treated as a medical-negligence claim and dismissed for lack of a sufficiently pleaded basis and supporting medical opinion, as well as limitation concerns.
On appeal, the court said M.N.’s notice of appeal contained general assertions but did not explain how the High Court judge had erred in law or fact. Her written submissions included accounts and allegations that were not part of the pleaded case or concerned people and bodies who were not parties to the proceedings. The court said her oral submissions also did not identify an error by the trial judge.
The judgment noted that the appeal did not address the personal-injury pleading requirements, the need for medical opinion in the claims against the HSE and Novartis, or the lack of particulars for claims against the gardaí and Novartis. The judges expressed sympathy for M.N.’s reported ill health, while concluding that this did not establish a legal basis for the claims or the appeal.