Lawyer and Barrister Withheld Vital Evidence in Court

[zeecarlos49]

I’m a carer to a wheelchair user with whom I attended court with as a witness two weeks ago.

Whilst at court, I witnessed the claimant’s barrister and solicitor withhold new evidence before and during a high court hearing and The evidence was then handed to the court after judgment was given. I have no doubt this led to an unsafe judgment against the Defendant.

I believe that the claimant’s representatives misled the court and interfered with the administration of justice.

 

How do I go about reporting this and to whom?

[mjt2013]

That is an extraordinarily serious allegation to make. What exactly happened? You shouldn't start impugning people's honesty and wrecking their careers unless you're absolutely sure something improper has occurred.

[zeecarlos49]

Hi MJT2013

 

Thank you for answering. I wouldn't make such a statement without any backing. I saw what I saw and heard what I heard. The exchange of words between the two following receipt of documents from a messenger was "we either ask for an adjournment with a view to withdrawing the application and admit that we got it wrong, or we carry on without the new material," or words to that effect. This is all I can say about the case. The other side of the coin is that the defendant has needlessly been disadvantaged and will suffer greatly.

[renegadeimp]

If you want to continue with this allegation and whatever consequences happen thereafter, you really need to ensure you have solid proof. An investigation will happen after you report them, but without any hard proof, nothing will happen to them, but could happen to you.

[zeecarlos49]

@ Renegadeimp

 

Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated.

[steampowered]

It wouldn't usually be the responsibility of the other side to draw attention to the judge. It is the responsibility of your lawyer (or you if not represented) to bring relevant evidence to the attention of the judge. The claimant's lawyers represent the claimant they do not represent you.

 

You say that they acted dishonestly - can you explain why you think that?

 

If the Claimant was ordered to disclose evidence to the Defendant before the trial and they did not do so then that is a different issue.

 

It is pointless to report something like this. If the case was not conducted properly then the remedy would be to appeal the judgment. You haven't said if this is a civil case or criminal case.

[zeecarlos49]

@ steampowered

 

Thanks for your input. In answer to your question, it is a civil case based on an application done by the claimant to join/substitute a party as a defendant to a claim where judgment was already obtained by default. The difficulty I have is that by explaining the case, I might jeopardise any future hearings. All I can say is that I believe that the evidence received by the claimant's representatives was from their own investigations. From the conversation between them, I deduce that the evidence was such that they became aware that they had wrongly identified the defendant for substitution. I believe that in the event that this evidence was disclosed, this would have had their application dismissed or adjourned. So, in a nutshell, I believe the evidence could have potentially cleared the person that was being accused. But, this was withheld. Thanks.

[mjt2013]

Wasn't the potential Defendant represented at the hearing? Also, it's very unusual to have a witness for an application like that, what was the witness for?

 

In any event, you said the evidence was disclosed at the end of the hearing so presumably the Defendant can now use it to apply to set the order aside.

[steampowered]

There's no general duty of disclosure in the English courts zeecarlos, unless otherwise ordered by the court - though there will usually be a disclosure order before the main hearing

 

Based on the very limited information provided, I would think the other side has only acted improperly or dishonestly if the statements made during the hearing are untrue or misleading due to omission of the later statement. If the statement made during the hearing was self-standing then I am not sure there is anything wrong with failing to bring the judge's attention to the later statement (unless failure to disclose was in breach of a disclosure order).

 

The other point to make is that this issue relates to the person who was joined as a party. I would think that if anyone is going to dispute this it should be them.

[zeecarlos49]

@ steampowered

 

This gives me a much better and clearer understanding and I accept that the person to dispute this is the one that was joined as a party. Thanks a lot for your valuable input!