Tribunal Case & Solicitor Fees ***HELP***

charmed-imsure

Just received the final sols bill for this (I sacked them a few days after the Tribunal because I felt they didn't stand by the T&C's of their contract + they messed up big style when they wrote out a witness statement in the proper format and missed a very vital bit of info - tut tut). I'm not sure the bill is completely true. It's just over £2700 but they're asking that £1200 of this is for disbursments (the barrister fee that they asked for of £800 + vat which doesn't quite come near £1200!). The hourly fee should be £240 per hour for the top man and £120 for any of his associate sols, I've only really been dealing with a secretary and they're billing me at £120 per hour for her! Am I able to dispute this bill? I don't understand it at all.

What on earth would happen if I dispute a solicitors bill???

jonesMUFCforever

You write to the senior partner of the firm of solicitors.
Ask for a breakdown of the bill highlighting anything in particular that you are not sure of.

The senior partner should then respond.

Depending on their reply and attitude you reserve the right to ask the Law society to check your bill.

naomi576

Re. solicitor's fees, I recently tried to recover some money I lost due to a solicitor's negligence and because I couldn't afford any more solicitor's fees I tried to to sue in the County Court myself. Due to the fact I didn't understand court procedure I never even got a hearing and was made to pay £3.500 in costs. I know believe the the civil courts are only for the very poor or the very rich. Beware!

jonesMUFCforever

Sorry if you didn't understand the procedure what did you expect?
You could have tried the courts online - the smallest fee would be £30!

charmed-imsure

Just wanted to do a quick update on this:
I won the case! (Partially).
I didn't win on the dismissal due to sex discrimination but I did win it in that I was treated unfavourably & discriminated against before, during & after my dismissal & the remedy hearing is 3rd June & compensation limited to Injury to Feeling. Not only this - I was also taking them for breach of contract as they still owed 2 days pay, which was £170 (it was a well paid job). Before the hearing they agreed to pay it but since the hearing they've refused & their reasoning is that I didn't win the full case!!! I wrote to the Tribunal a couple of weeks ago & told them about this asking what I can do about it & they're going to take this into account at the remedy hearing which is marvellous news.

Still not been able to pay the sols bill but waiting for a small loan this week which should cover it.

NAR

Sounds like you will be lucky if you recover your costs! :eek:

they still owed 2 days pay, which was £170 (it was a well paid job).

Hardly "well paid", but I suppose it depends what you are comparing with.

Clive_Woody

NAR wrote: »

Hardly "well paid", but I suppose it depends what you are comparing with.

That not exactly a helpful or constructive addition to the discussion. It's certainly a lot higher than minimum wage and if the OP is happy with it then good for her.

charmed-imsure

I was happy with the salary, £23k a year, my highest ever paid job was £16k & I'm in my 30's & quite qualified. I can honestly say I miss the income!

Update: The company have now paid the 2 days pay - but only because they got a copy of the email I sent to the Tribunal. They put a letter with it saying it's in full & final settlement so before cashing this I spoke to ACAS and asked, if I cash it, can it be construed that I accepted it as full & final settlement to everything & they said no, the Tribunal will not end a case unless signed agreements via solicitors or ACAS are produced or if I personally drop the case in writing to them stating my reasons. I wrote a courtesy email to the Company saying that I received the cheque, but to bear in mind that it is not in any way a full & final settlement to all counts. The remedy hearing is still set for 3rd June & if they want to liaise they can do so through ACAS.

Well, I got a nasty email today from them saying that I deliberately misled the Tribunal... tell you what - here's what they wrote back (I forwarded it to ACAS btw!)

Ref your E Mail. We have never refused to pay the 2 days agreed. Once again you are misleading deliberatly the Tribunal.Our E Mail To **** stated the two matters of your tribunal and his issues with termination etc were to be kept separate .Please read the E Mail more carefully. The payment we referred to again is quite separate to any outcome of the tribunal and it was in full and final settlement of the final salary payment. Finally NO we do not wish to contact ACAS If we wanted to do this we would not need your input. We are considering appealing the the case.



How nice are this Company eh! I will name & shame them once the whole thing is over.
Tribunals are not so unintelligent that they can't see who's porky pying or misleading them, they sit through these things day in day out, they know how to spot a duff story. I actually found the above email to be quite aggressive. I won't respond to him.

Clive_Woody

charmed-imsure wrote: »

Ref your E Mail. We have never refused to pay the 2 days agreed. Once again you are misleading deliberatly the Tribunal.Our E Mail To **** stated the two matters of your tribunal and his issues with termination etc were to be kept separate .Please read the E Mail more carefully. The payment we referred to again is quite separate to any outcome of the tribunal and it was in full and final settlement of the final salary payment. Finally NO we do not wish to contact ACAS If we wanted to do this we would not need your input. We are considering appealing the the case.

They need to read their emails before they send them, spelling errors and typos look very unprofessional.... The standard of English is also rather poor.

charmed-imsure

Clive_Woody wrote: »

They need to read their emails before they send them, spelling errors and typos look very unprofessional.... The standard of English is also rather poor.

LOL, couldn't agree more!