Supporting Documents:

BETWEEN

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL TO WHICH ARTICLE 34.5.3° OF THE CONSTITUTION APPLIES

RESULT: The Court grants leave to Teresa Ennis, the plaintiff/appellant, to appeal to this Court from the order of the Court of Appeal delivered on the 20th May, 2015, and perfected on the 25th May, 2015, on the two questions certified in this determination.

REASONS GIVEN:

1 The application herein was not lodged within the time limit provided by Order 58 Rule 16(1) of the Rules of the Superior Courts. The Court hereby extends time for the lodging of the application. The explanation for the failure to comply with the provisions of the rules, and the matters raised by the respondents in relation thereto, are matters which the Court will take into account when considering the costs of the application and the appeal are addressed.

2 The application for leave to appeal contains a detailed recital of the findings of both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and lengthy and generalised grounds of appeal. The parties are referred to paragraph 3(d) of the Practice Direction SC16 which provides, insofar as is relevant:

“[T]he grounds of appeal should not normally exceed 2 pages … bearing in mind that the judgment(s) of the court(s) below will be available to the court.”

In this regard, practitioners are reminded of the provisions of the Practice Direction that “the court anticipates brevity and clarity”.

3 The Court accepts that the divergence of views between the judgments of the High Court and Court of Appeal on the question of the existence of a duty of care, and in particular the questions of reasonable foreseeability of damage, and whether it was fair, reasonable and just to impose such a duty, raise issues of general public importance.

4 Accordingly, the Court considers that the decision of the Court of Appeal involves a matter of general public importance and will certify the following two questions:

(i) Was the Court of Appeal correct to find that the Child and Family Agency did not owe a duty of care to the plaintiff/appellant in the circumstances of this case?;

(ii) If the Child and Family Agency did owe a duty of care to the plaintiff/appellant, was it in breach of that duty in the circumstances of this case?

6. Thus, the Court grants leave to the plaintiff/appellant to appeal to this Court from the judgment of the Court of Appeal, perfected on the 25th May, 2015, on the two questions certified in this determination.

AND IT IS HEREBY SO ORDERED ACCORDINGLY.