Counsel for plaintiff says he is ‘very pleased’ with development that means they will be going into mediation ‘effectively with the order’
Plaintiff Ken Grace is seeking damages for the abuse he suffered from Bro Paul Hendrick, pictured above, while a secondary student in Westland Row CBS in Dublin. File photograph: Collins Courts
John Gordon SC, for Ken Grace, who is seeking damages for the abuse he suffered while a secondary student in Westland Row CBS in Dublin, told Mr Justice Tony O’Connor of the breakthrough when he sat to hear the latest application in a case that has been beset by procedural complexities. The Christian Brothers are an unincorporated entity, which means that a plaintiff has to sue all the members alive at the time of an event if the entity does not choose to nominate someone to be sued on its behalf. Most religious congregations select a nominee for the purposes of dealing with historical child abuse cases, but the Christian Brothers have chosen not to. It has taken a similar position in a number of other cases before the High Court.
He was “very pleased” with the letter, he said, which meant they would be going into mediation “effectively with the order”.