Neighbours go to High Court over hedge row

Neighbours have gone all the way to the High Court in a row over a boundary hedge and laneway.

The typical hedgerow has lined a small Wicklow lane for around a century, but is now the subject of a legal row that has already been thrashed out in the Circuit Court.

High Court President Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, before the case started yesterday, urged both sides to take “an eleventh hour opportunity ” to resolve the case and put their differences aside.

He warned James and Anne Madigan of Askintinny, near Clogga Beach, and their neighbours, Kathleen Maureen Reuter, along with her daughter and son, Marian and Sean Reuter, that costs could be hundreds of thousands of euro.

The judge said he was told the case could go on for five days incurring substantial legal costs. He said people had to co-exist and he hoped if they settled they would look back in time on the outcome and see they had done the right thing.

The case was before the High Court by way of an appeal. The Circuit Court last year found in favour of James and Anne Madigan and awarded them €5,000 damages for trespass and nuisance and said they were entitled to a right of way on to the laneway for the purpose of maintaining their hedgerow.

Neighbours Kathleen Maureen Reuter, Marian and Sean Reuter, who run a caravan park near the beach, have appealed that decision to the High Court.

The court heard that an open offer has been made by the Reuter side to settle the case, which included €20,000 towards legal costs previously incurred.

At the centre of the case is the alleged widening of the entrance to the laneway, which the Madigans claim encroached on their property.

Mr Justice Kearns asked Mr Madigan if it was too late for common sense to prevail. He replied he was afraid so and that 20sq m of the corner of his property was gone. The Reuters lodged a counter claim seeking a declaration they are entitled to exclusive ownership of the laneway and hedge.