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

charmed-imsure

I've managed to get a loan now to pay the solicitor fees, well most of them! I wrote to let them know how much I have & asked if they can accept it along with a few monthly payments after, but I also mentioned that I was concerned about paying full hourly rates when a secretary did most of the work. I've now been told that because I've queried it, it's gone into dispute & an investigation has to be done so I guess I'll keep the cash to one side until they come back to me. Never know, might even get it reduced by £1000 because they made a mistake on the bill!

The company I took to court have come back to me on Tuesday & offered £2000 out of court settlement... I nearly wet myself, for almost a year of torment & ridicule from them I don't think that quite comes close to settling it. I've submitted a schedule of loss now to their solicitors totalling £35,064 & something pence. So £2000 is just adding insult to injury.

I can't afford representation now at the remedy hearing (which has now been postponed). Does anyone know of any solicitors around the North West area that would be able to assist at either a really low cost or pro-bono? I don't even mind if it's a student in law but I feel I could do with the assistance. I've done most of the work myself including case studies (to assist the panel in agreeing on a settlement figure) & I've also done my own statement + schedule of loss. I am just so worried about representing myself because I'm not exactly up to speed on legal banter so to speak & I'm worried I might not be able to correctly put an argument across. I'm also worried about bully tactics from their solicitors. Not that it matters because I won the case & they would be silly to disregard or say anything in detriment to my statement, that'll make them look worse. I just want to make sure it's all done correctly.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows of anyone that'd like some glory in this, please feel free to personal message me with any contact numbers. It's a sex discrimination case against a major haulage firm (which is, by tradition, male dominated) so I guess a little bit of a landmark case.

jonesMUFCforever

Have you enquired at your local Law centre or CAB?

charmed-imsure

jonesMUFC(LFC ROCK!!!)forever - I have tried CAB, they gave me a really good website but unfortunately it only provided me with templates of legal documents. They couldn't help much further unfortunately.

Law Centre? I've not thought of that or heard of that really, CAB never mentioned anything like it either so I'll look it up, thank you. I posted a question on a law website & only got 2 responses, one I made an appointment with & they wanted to charge me £2750 + VAT just to do the remedy preparation, that's almost more than the whole case has cost so far! All I asked them to do was all the paperwork with no representation so I daren't ask them now how much they would charge for representation now I've done all the paperwork.

I have had a response from the respondents solicitors over the weekend regarding my schedule of loss. They said (quoted):

"With the greatest respect, this is not a case where the tribunal will award anything close to £20,000 for injury to feeling. Further, we very much doubt there will be an award for injury to health. Indeed your schedule seems to have been compiled without any regard to recognised Tribunal compensation principles and we do suggest you take appropriate advice"

Well, they know I have no representation at the moment so this is clearly a bully tactic. So, here's my response:

I write, without prejudice, in response to your letter dated 16th May 2008, your reference: MGB.LMF.75742.6.

I would like to start by stating that it is not yours, nor your clients’ position, to dictate what a Tribunal will, or will not award, for injury to feelings. It is also not yours, nor your clients’ position to dictate whether or not, a Tribunal will make an award for injury to health. It is, however, completely my responsibility to present to a Tribunal, what I feel is a fair & justifiable request for compensation.

With full legal assistance, the schedule of loss has been drafted completely in accordance with recognised Tribunal compensation principles. We are ready to present factual & documented evidence to the Tribunal to fully justify the amount applied for, including injury to health, where documented medical evidence will be provided. I will express concern as to why you seem unaware that, although the Vento scale is used as a guide by Tribunals, there are in fact, no capped limits on awards in discrimination cases, including that of sex discrimination. Perhaps you are misguiding your client. We will also be requesting, due to the serious nature of this case, that some reasonable adjustments are imposed on your client.

Your offer of £2000 as settlement in this case is completely unacceptable & only serves to add insult to injury. The schedule of loss will be presented, as is, to the Tribunal on the 9th July 2008, unless we are able to settle prior to this Remedy Hearing. I remind you at this point, that this is a public case where any members of the public can attend & I will be inviting specific industry related journalists to make this case full public knowledge. I will also be contacting the Manchester Evening News, Northampton Chronicle & Echo & The Huddersfield Examiner, with full disclosure.

Your letter to me, seemed to be what I can only describe as a waste of money to your client, it served no purpose. Just because I prefer not to use a solicitor for my correspondence, do not assume that I am not being legally aided & advised. I have also forwarded a copy of your letter referred to above, to ACAS, for their records. I look forward to any constructive response from you.

I found a website that gave brilliant advice on how to negotiate a settlement, it is a government run site so it's official advice. They do state that you should try to make it out to be an excessive waste of money by them going to remedy & also play very heavily on using the media. No company want bad publicity, especially like this.

I read some stats over the weekend & in 2006/2007, only 2% of sex discrimination cases were ever won... I think mine is one of that 2%. Over 140,000 applications were made. I started to feel extremely lucky that I won.

*still desperately seeking someone to assist me though - the remedy is now set for 9th July*

jonesMUFCforever

I would err on the side of caution.
Don't give them too much information about how much you know and your knowledge of tribunal procedures.
I would keep a lot under your hat until July (if it gets that far).
I would also drop the bit about it being a public place and inviting the press - it serves no purpose.

Lastly only say things that you can back up - so if you are being 'legally aided' fine, and if 'ACAS' are an interested party again fine otherwise drop that bit as well.

Good luck!

charmed-imsure

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I would err on the side of caution.
Don't give them too much information about how much you know and your knowledge of tribunal procedures.
I would keep a lot under your hat until July (if it gets that far).
I would also drop the bit about it being a public place and inviting the press - it serves no purpose.

Lastly only say things that you can back up - so if you are being 'legally aided' fine, and if 'ACAS' are an interested party again fine otherwise drop that bit as well.

Good luck!

ACAS are backing me up. They have my case file & are my mediators now. Only problem is, my case worker is so hard to get hold of and bearly ever responds to any email I send with questions. I've been thinking of seeing if someone else can handle the case.

I've spoken to 3 different papers yesterday & they're all interested in covering the story, I make nothing from it as they don't pay for stories. One has accepted an invite to the hearing but I haven't yet told them who the case is about & when it will be. I'm keeping that quiet until I get a response from the solicitor about my last letter!

zzzLazyDaisy

charmed-imsure wrote: »

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. .

If compensation is limited to injury to feelings it means that the Tribunal will not award compensation for your losses arising from the dismissal. If that is the case, £2000 is probably in the right ball park. You might get them to agree to an out of court settlement of £2500 - or even £3000 if you are really lucky - just to avoid all the additional costs and expenses for them of going back to court. But if injury to feelings is all the tribunal is going to award, then £35000 is unlikely, as it appears to include loss of wages which the tribunal cannot include in an injury to feelings award.

Edit: Please note, I am a retired employment lawyer, while the comments above are made in good faith, they are made for information only and are not intended to constitute legal advice.

loopylil

[quote=I found a website that gave brilliant advice on how to negotiate a settlement, it is a government run site so it's official advice. They do state that you should try to make it out to be an excessive waste of money by them going to remedy & also play very heavily on using the media. No company want bad publicity, especially like this.

*[/quote]

Hi

Would you be able to let me know what this website is called please?

Thanks

charmed-imsure

loopylil - Disability Rights Commission (DRC). Under section 6, Settlements & Compensation

Quick update:

Remedy was 9th July, nobody from the respondents side turned up & no reason was given in the courtroom, just an apology from their solicitor.

ACAS it seems advised me very very badly. They advised that I didn't need to & shouldn't exchange any documents until the morning of the remedy, so I didn't. But when I got there, the judge slated me for not correctly following procedure & did not believe ACAS advised me to do that as it's not correct procedure. Because I had medical evidence, their sol was going to ask for an adjournment along with costs.

After 2 hours of time outs, we agreed a figure out of the court room & the judge has now made it an order.

I was awarded
£3500 injury to feeling + 10% uplift for their complete failure to follow statutory disciplinary/grievance procedures. So in all, I got £3,850.00

They were supposed to send me forms to sign early last week & I'm still waiting!!! They've only got 28 days from 9th July to pay.

Hope they do coz I can finally pay off my sol bill from February (luckily they've frozen interest).

The Company I name & shame that are now guilty of sex discrimination plus total failure to follow disciplinary & grievance procedures are C Butt Limited in Northampton. There were no silence orders & it was a public case so legally, no-one can be prevented from disclosing their name.

It'd be interesting to know of anyone else who may have had dealings with them/having dealings with them.

dmg24

charmed-imsure wrote: »

loopylil - Disability Rights Commission (DRC). Under section 6, Settlements & Compensation

Quick update:

Remedy was 9th July, nobody from the respondents side turned up & no reason was given in the courtroom, just an apology from their solicitor.

ACAS it seems advised me very very badly. They advised that I didn't need to & shouldn't exchange any documents until the morning of the remedy, so I didn't. But when I got there, the judge slated me for not correctly following procedure & did not believe ACAS advised me to do that as it's not correct procedure. Because I had medical evidence, their sol was going to ask for an adjournment along with costs.

After 2 hours of time outs, we agreed a figure out of the court room & the judge has now made it an order.

I was awarded
£3500 injury to feeling + 10% uplift for their complete failure to follow statutory disciplinary/grievance procedures. So in all, I got £3,850.00

They were supposed to send me forms to sign early last week & I'm still waiting!!! They've only got 28 days from 9th July to pay.

Hope they do coz I can finally pay off my sol bill from February (luckily they've frozen interest).

The Company I name & shame that are now guilty of sex discrimination plus total failure to follow disciplinary & grievance procedures are C Butt Limited in Northampton. There were no silence orders & it was a public case so legally, no-one can be prevented from disclosing their name.

It'd be interesting to know of anyone else who may have had dealings with them/having dealings with them.

I would be really careful publishing details before you have the money!

Horace

Be very wary of publishing details of any settlement you receive. If your ex employer finds out - they will ask you to pay it all back. Employers are nice like that.

On the job front try listing on totaljobs, monsterjobs and any others. Also try and go temping to earn some cash.