The Court of Appeal (CoA) has ruled that the six Harry Clarke stained glass windows, valued at €1 million, located in Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street, Dublin are owned by RGRE Grafton Ltd, a company owned by developer Johnny Ronan. Previously, the High Court ruled that four of the six windows were RGRE Grafton’s property but the other two belonged to the tenant, Bewley’s Café Grafton Street (BCGS) Ltd and sub-tenant Bewley’s Ltd.
RGRE Grafton appealed the High Court’s decision, and Ms Justice Caroline Costello, representing a three-member panel of the CoA, concluded that all six windows in fact fall under RGRE Grafton’s ownership. She upheld the High Court’s decision that the four stained glass pieces, referred to as the Four Orders due to their depiction of four orders of classical architecture, belonged to the landlord and its successors.
However, Ms Costello disputed the High Court’s judgement that the remaining two windows, overlooking the Swan Yard and thus named the Swan Yard windows, could not be proven to be RGRE’s property within reasonable doubt. They were previously ruled as tenant’s fixtures and thereby belonging to Bewley’s Ltd via an agreement made with Bewley’s Café Grafton Street.
Ms Costello held that RGRE Grafton provided sufficient evidence that these windows were also part of the premises and thus their property. She asserted that the High Court’s conclusion; was based on “impermissible speculation”. The CoA, therefore, overturned the High Court’s decision, rejecting a counter-appeal from the defendants regarding the other four windows. Ms Costello noted that the ambiguity of the evidence contributed to the complexity of resolving this case, requiring the courts to draw inferences from incomplete information with extreme caution.
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