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Solicitor owes bank 70 million euros

An Irish solicitor appears to have run up a staggering debt of 70 million euros, which, surprise surprise, he is not now in a position to pay it back. The reports on this story do not make it clear whether the loan was in any way assisted by the fact that the individual concerned, Brian O’Donnell, was a solicitor, and perhaps the bigger issue is that this is further evidence of the excesses of the last decade and frankly totally reckless lending.

Mr Monkey

In a groundbreaking case of huge potential, a British person using a different account name in a twitter account has had his account details disclosed based on a court order against his consent. This was not a decision of the English courts but instead based on a California court ruling.

The underlying issue related to allegedly defamatory comments made about decisions made by South Tyneside Council by a twitter account in the name of “Mr Monkey”.

A person using a twitter account in a different name may still not use his or her real name when setting up a twitter account, but there does have to be a related email address and information may also reveal which computer has been used to make postings which can link an individual to an account.

Based on these criteria, the spotlight in terms of the Mr Monkey account has fallen on Mr Ahmed Khan, who is a South Tyneside Councillor. Mr Khan denies that he is responsible for the twitter postings in question but is known to be a critic of the Council from within.

South Tyneside Council is believed to have spent about £75,000.00 on this case. It appears that Mr Khan is now also considering applying for judicial review.

Do your research

A new survey indicates that the public ought to do more research before instructing solicitors.

It is understandable that, when instructing a solicitor, the public tend to think that they are all competent and efficient. The focus tends to be on price and service. However, in reality, whilst price and service are relevant factors, it is far more important to have a solicitor who genuinely knows about the type of law you need, who does not have a long history of complaints, at a firm that can properly deal with your matter.

Even many of the so-called solicitor comparison sites or vetting sites do not properly check this. This is even more surprising since the Solicitors Regulation authority (SRA) website now has this information. You can search by firm or solicitor.

Returning to the survey, this found :-

• just over 50% of those instructing a solicitor in the last 3 years checked their qualifications.
• the survey was commissioned by www.personalinjurylawyers.co.uk and questioned just over 1,100 people
• 41% said they were not satisfied with the solicitors service
• 76%, did not check whether their solicitor has genuine expertise in the area of law where they instructed
• 22% stated they had relied on a personal recommendation
• 62% had instructed based on locality and the first solicitors they spoke with or contacted

Will statistics from ICM Direct

Some recent statistics relating to wills are as follows :-

• Over 60% of adults do not have a will
• Nearly 70% with young children have not made a will
• In the age group of 55-65 the figure is around 50%
• Of those who have made a will only around 15% have reviewed it in the last 10 years
• Some 25% do not even consider making a will and a similar proportion think it’s very expensive to make a will which is simply not the case.

Whilst none of us wants to think about our own death, these statistics suggest that far too many people simply don’t understand the compelling reasons to make a will and that most wills do not cost more than around £300.00. This is not a small amount of money but it is hardly unaffordable in the context of the benefits provided.

Credit where credit is due. We came across this post today, thought about potentially putting a spin on it, but the article simply cannot be improved, it really is excellent and embodies are own views, So, without further ado, if you are interested, whether as a client or a lawyer in anew take on what clients want from lawyers, click this link.  Hope you enjoy.

Work and play becoming increasingly merged ?

Many will not be surprised by research indicate that convergence not only relates to the merge of ways to access the internet, phones and other devices but also to the fact that many people are finding the boundaries between work and leisure time are increasingly blurring.

The research by Gradwell found that :-

• 1 in 3 British people answer business calls while on holiday
• The biggest sector finding it hard to switch off are men, and of these, senior management and people over 65 are finding it particularly hard to shut off their business.

Commentators are of suggesting that part of the problem may be pressure imposed by work , by providing smartphones, for employees to either consciously or subconsciously form the view that this means they need to be available almost 24/7. Not great for stress or work/life balance.

Possible employment law claims in the offing based on the above ?

Accused Judge puts forward an improbable defence

Judges sit in court daily hearing some very strange and frankly ludicrous defences to all sorts of civil and criminal cases. In a bizarre turn of events, one particular Judge, accused of punching his wife, seems to have take a leaf out of the book of some stories he must have heard.

HHJ James Allen QC put forward as his defence, backed up by his wife apparently, that in the heat of an argument between them, she became so frustrated that she violently punched herself in the face.

The court did not accept this version of events and notwithstanding that the Judge has been placed on probation and fined £5,000.00.

PPI – more twists and turns than a thriller movie …

Despite the very welcome climbdown by the major banks on the PPI mis-selling issue, iot seems that some may still be relying on the letter of the law to avoid paying out where possible.

The issue arises in relation to claims which have previously been lodged and rejected by the banks. The new rules state that the banks do not have to investigate such complaints. In those cases, the complainant then has the option to formally complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service and has 6 months to do so. Many complainants state that in these circumstances the banks stalled them and many didn’t get a complaint lodged within the 6 month timeframe, and these cases are the ones where there will be a degree of controversy.

Before giving any impression that all banks and financial institutions are adopting the above line, this will not necessarily be the case, but it does appear that Santander, RBS and NatWest will adopt the line of rejecting such claims. On the other hand, Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Halifax and Cheltenham & Gloucester and Barclays and HSBC, advise that customers should contact them about the issue.

Agency worker regulations

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has released guidance on the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) which will come into force at the beginning of October this year. The most important aspect of the new rules is that agency workers will accrue similar employment law rights as permanent employees after a period of 12 weeks in line with the European Union Agency Workers Directive.

For more information, click here.

Massive provision made by Lloyds for for mis-selling PPI policies

Lloyds has set aside a provision of the massive sum of £3.2 billion as compensation for  mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). The move will now increase the growing calls for the other major lenders to take similar steps and follows the recent highly significant High Court decision which effectively obliges the banks to proactively assess all the policies sold and to actively contact any customers possibly mis-sold these types of policy.

However, Lloyds have not yet gone as far as the FSA rules, which were ultimately endorsed by the High Court, require. Those rules require the banks to contact all past purchasers of PPI, inviting them to lodge a claim if appropriate, whereas the Lloyds position does not go as far as “inviting” the customer to lodge a claim. To it’s credit, Lloyds has designated phone numbers for customers and will have a complaints procedure to complete online.

Those whose recent claims have been put on hold pending the outcome of the recent High Court case will be processed without any further prompting, she said.

Last year, the FSA estimated that if the UK’s banks contacted past customers, approximately 20% may respond,  which ultimately could result in claims worth a total of perhaps £3billion. Under the FSA rules, given the obligation on the banks and other PPI sellers to actively invite and later customers, the figure is likely to be considerably higher than £3billion.