Advice against the police over false evidence!!

[Lucky7even]

In 2010, my local Council issued an ASBO against me because I had a dispute with a neighbour.

 

My barrister tried but in vain to raise in Court that the Council had failed to follow its own procedures when the asbo was applied for.

 

When Council's apply for an asbo they need to meet certain criteria which they failed to do so.

 

Before an asbo is issued, you are supposed to receive a verbal warning, then a written warning, then you are asked to sign behaviour contracts; I was never sent no warnings etc etc.

 

Does this make the asbo legal?

 

The asbo has since expired without me breaching it; need I say more!!

 

However the said neighbour prior to the asbo being issued, had been arrested for death threat which she denied of course, and before then I had also suffered threats of violence, and harassment.

 

I was repeatedly refused the right to make statements, and so was my partner.

 

I have also raised concern that some of the evidence used to obtain the asbo was not 100%; the complainant had lied on at least 4 statements, had lied during their section4a interview.

 

The police dont want to know.

 

I cost me £7000 to defend this joke of an asbo and I therefore want to seek if I can sue for damages.

 

Does anyone know of any good solicitor who can do this on a no win no fee basis.

 

Thanks!!

 

[i hate bailiffs]

Does anyone know of any good solicitor who can do this on a no win no fee basis.

 

i think that would be against CAG rules to promote a individual

you would do better doing a search of the local area or local directory

 

There may be better options available to you such as

 

Formal complaint to council then on to local government ombudsmen

As the ombudsman can award compensation

 

Good luck!

[Lucky7even]

Thank you will need to know how to write to if thats the case!!

 

I hope that as I can prove that the asbo was unlawful, hopefully I will get my £7000 back!!

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I'll move your thread from the Campaigns forum to the Local Authorities one, you may have some more comments.

 

Good call about not recommending lawyers, IHB

 

My best, HB

 

Edit: if the forum guys feel that this thread would be better moved to the legal forum at any point, please report it via the black triangle and let the site team know it needs moving.

[Lucky7even]

Just phoned the Local Government Ombudsman and they say because case is over 12 months old, they wont touch it!!

 

What the **** can I do now!?

[id6052]

If you disagreed with the ASBO, I suspect you should have appealed the Court's decision at the time and tried to get it overturned.

 

If you have not done that, I doubt you would have much luck trying to pursue the matter 3 years later.

 

However I am no expert on this, and you may wish to consult a solicitor, but I seriously doubt it will get you anywhere.

[assisted blonde]

TBH after all this time I would say its a non starter, a local no win no fee solicitor would only take the case if he thought there was a fair chance of winning. If you felt that strongly you should have appealed at the time.

[disgruntled4]

Firstly, ignore assisted blonde, I think they get a kick out of writing people have no chance on their posts. They may feel it is helpful, but lucky7even i guess that is for you to decide not me.

 

If the council or the police did not follow procedures then you may have a case. After all, what is the point in having procedures if those responsible for looking after us choose not to follow them?

 

as for looking for a solicitor, i would start with your local CAB. In my experience they are pretty useless even on simple breach of contract matters with retailers. Start by looking for a solicitor in your local area on this website. (can't post links yet) type 'lawsociety' and 'find a solicitor' into google. there is no hard an fast rule, you will just need to call them and explain your situation, they will tell you if you have a case and £7000 should be enough for no win no fee.

 

is there anything else you haven't told us? why did your legal fees come to £7000 and still procedure wasn't followed?

[assisted blonde]

I dont advise people that they dont have a chance just for kicks, an opinion was asked for and I gave mine. My concern is what it can cost people in time, effort and money, of course the OP can and will decide for themself but there is a tendancy for a lot of people to want to sue for damages far too often. Yes of course there is law to protect any miscarriage of justice but as the OPs initial barrister struggled to get the court to say the council did not follow its own procedures after all this time I still say its a bit of a non starter.

Consult a solicitor and listen to what they say but be prepared to be told its not a case that a no win no fee solicitor may take, a solicitor that you pay will do exactly what you want them to( although they may advise you not to persue the case) and charge you royally for the priviledge.

[Lucky7even]

In July 2010, I employed a solicitor (whom I knew quite well as I worked with her before), to defend me against an ASBO application by my local authority.

 

She failed to formally write to the local authority to object to the asbo.

 

She failed to put in a defence before the trial.

 

There was no meeeting with the barrister before the trial so that I was not able to raise what questions I wanted asked of the witneeses.

 

There was very little work done on the file to justify the horrendous £7000 I was charged.

 

Also they have lost some of the paperwork I submitted as a large number of BT telephone bills were missing, and photographs wer missing.

 

Does anyone think I have a claim for professional negligence??

[steampowered]

Difficult to say without more information to be honest. These things get much more difficult with time. Did you receive fee narratives showing what time was spent on your file, and why has it taken 3 years to get to this point?

[Ganymede]

In July 2010, I employed a solicitor (whom I knew quite well as I worked with her before), to defend me against an ASBO application by my local authority.

 

She failed to formally write to the local authority to object to the asbo.

 

She failed to put in a defence before the trial.

 

There was no meeeting with the barrister before the trial so that I was not able to raise what questions I wanted asked of the witneeses.

 

There was very little work done on the file to justify the horrendous £7000 I was charged.

 

Also they have lost some of the paperwork I submitted as a large number of BT telephone bills were missing, and photographs wer missing.

 

Does anyone think I have a claim for professional negligence??

 

 

What was the nature of your retainer with them?

 

You need to provide a lot more information.

[Lucky7even]

What was the nature of your retainer with them?

 

You need to provide a lot more information.

 

What do you mea?

[raydetinu]

how much did you pay them or were you on legal aid.

again why have you waited 3 years.

[Lucky7even]

how much did you pay them or were you on legal aid.

again why have you waited 3 years.

 

They were paid £7K, and did extremely little work for the money they charged.

 

I am not legally minded and only recently realised that they were professionally negligent.

 

They have sent a copy of my file to a solicitor who will be reviewing it tomorrw; on the likelyhood of things I do have a claim due to the above reasons.

 

Apparently for professional negligent claims it can be worth up to £15K, depending on how serious the negligence was; as they failed to put in a defense I guess its quite serious.

[Ganymede]

They were paid £7K, and did extremely little work for the money they charged.

 

I am not legally minded and only recently realised that they were professionally negligent.

 

They have sent a copy of my file to a solicitor who will be reviewing it tomorrw; on the likelyhood of things I do have a claim due to the above reasons.

 

Apparently for professional negligent claims it can be worth up to £15K, depending on how serious the negligence was; as they failed to put in a defense I guess its quite serious.

 

 

 

Did you personally pay them £7k?

 

Did you have a Defence to the ASBO?

[Lucky7even]

Did you personally pay them £7k?

 

Did you have a Defence to the ASBO?

 

I certainly did indeed have a defence against the asbo.

 

I had a 320 page diary going back from 2004 until 2010 of the neighbours behaviour, she was arrested for death threats and lied in her interview which I can prove, I had 8 character references from different people to say I wasnt a problem, I had photographs, and bt itemised fone bills to disprove a large amount of evidence in the past 6 months they claimed I was shouting abuse.

 

The solicitor failed to put this evidnce in a defense bundle before court and I lost because the Council's solicitor said they did not put in a defense!!

 

They were paid £7K by a relative and I thought they were able to do the job correctly.

 

I am having a solicitor view the file of papers to see if I have a claim and will know by end of today.

[raydetinu]

Certainly does not sound right, but only a solicitor or barrister would know how strong your case is.

If strong they may take it for no win no fee.

Good luck.

[Ganymede]

I am having a solicitor view the file of papers to see if I have a claim and will know by end of today.

 

 

 

Please let us know the outcome.

[Ganymede]

So what was the decision?

[Lucky7even]

I am still waiting to hear from a solicitor if I have a claim or not but ultimately there was no defense that's what the council told me!!

[Lucky7even]

In 2010, In instructed a firm of solicitors to help defend me against an ASBO order (long story).

 

I am not legally minded, but I feel this solicitor has ripped me off.

 

They charged me an excessive bill for a whopping £7000.

 

In my eyes, they did **** all for what they charged; they failed to put in a defense before the court, they did not officially object to the asbo in writing, and they certainly did not object that the evidence was over 2 years old.

 

I wrote a letter to the senior person at the firm 2 weeks ago asking how they can justify charging me £7000 for basically doing sod all to my case.

 

The council told me I lost because there was no defense!!

 

I have not heard anything back considering it was a 2 page letter outlining why I am unhappy with how they treated me and the extorninate fees they charged for doing nothing on my case.

 

I have complained to the legal ombudsman over this matter, yet I need to give them 8 weeks; I doubt I will hear anything anyway as she has ignored the letter to date.

[Blinkin73]

Hi there,

 

You may have read my thread, if you have you will realise that I can feel your pain regarding this. I am utterly astnonshied how at how greedy and manipulative many lawyers seem to be and cant for the life of me understand how they can charge such high fees.

 

I know its frustrating but you have to give the firm 8 weeks to respond to your complaint before the Ombudsman will look it. If you are lucky the firm may offer to refund some of it.

 

Hopefully you still have copies of any letters etc they sent you. did they give you estimates for pieces of work? Did they inform you if they were going to go over these? Did the invoices list the work done? Did they actually do the work they charged you for?

 

Regarding the defence Im not clear what you mean by them not providing a defence. Did they actually not submit a thing to court regarding your defence or was the defence they submitted just not accepted by the Court. Or was no substantial defence put forward because of the particular facts of your case. What was your understanding of the defence that they would put forward? Are there a legal precedents regarding how recent evidence has to be?

 

Edit. I've just noted that you have previously posted on this and that you were going to waiting to hear from a solicitor about this in June. What were you told.

 

When was the solicitor paid? The Ombudsman have time limits regarding complaints and may have to justify why its taken you so long to complain about the matter

Edited August 11, 2013 by Blinkin73

[Lucky7even]

Hi there,

 

You may have read my thread, if you have you will realise that I can feel your pain regarding this. I am utterly astnonshied how at how greedy and manipulative many lawyers seem to be and cant for the life of me understand how they can charge such high fees.

 

I know its frustrating but you have to give the firm 8 weeks to respond to your complaint before the Ombudsman will look it. If you are lucky the firm may offer to refund some of it.

 

Hopefully you still have copies of any letters etc they sent you. did they give you estimates for pieces of work? Did they inform you if they were going to go over these? Did the invoices list the work done? Did they actually do the work they charged you for?

 

Regarding the defence Im not clear what you mean by them not providing a defence. Did they actually not submit a thing to court regarding your defence or was the defence they submitted just not accepted by the Court. Or was no substantial defence put forward because of the particular facts of your case. What was your understanding of the defence that they would put forward? Are there a legal precedents regarding how recent evidence has to be?

 

Edit. I've just noted that you have previously posted on this and that you were going to waiting to hear from a solicitor about this in June. What were you told.

 

When was the solicitor paid? The Ombudsman have time limits regarding complaints and may have to justify why its taken you so long to complain about the matter

 

I thought I had paid the solicitor to do a job and they ultimately failed.

 

I have sent a lengthy letter of complaint 2 weeks ago to the firm, but as of yet they have ignored my letter.

 

There was no paper defense bundle put in place before the court; I had a 350 page diary of the neighbours behaviour, BT itemised fone bills which cleared me of key dates and times I was alleged to have shouted abuse, and photographic evidence.

 

The solicitor I employed did not submit all this evidence BEFORE going to court and have in fact lost some of the paperwork provided.

 

In my letter to the senior partner of the firm, I raised around 9 issues of contempt and I asked for a refund of the £7K that was paid.

 

There was an invoice, but there was no itemised invoice to show what was worked done. I know for a fact that little work was done on the file.

 

There was no justification of where £7K fees came from, only a invoice. I need to wait until mid September for a full and final response from the solicitors but I know the letter will be ignored.

[steampowered]

If you are worried about the letter being ignored, write another short letter to them asking them to confirm receipt of your original letter and when they expect to respond.