The government must
listen to the Dowler family and stop its civil justice
reforms
The Dowler family have asked the
Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg to stop the
unjust and unfair legislation that will significantly weaken the
'no win no fee' mechanisms they used to fight their case
against News International. These changes threaten to remove access
to justice for millions of middle-income families and
individuals.
Writing an open letter to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime
Minister the Dowlers have called for the current way of funding
cases by 'no win, no fee' agreements to remain - and not be
effectively dismantled as envisaged by Coalition government plans.
They say, “We were lucky that we fell under [the current]
system. We understand that the new law affects thousands of people
who want to sue News of the World and other news papers.”
The reforms, currently being pushed through Parliament by
Conservative Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly, are set to make
'no win, no fee' conditional fee arrangements much more difficult
for ordinary people to use. This will remove access to justice for
millions of middle income; middle England families who are victims
of accidents, fraud, negligence, injustice and other
wrongdoing.
The Law Society has warned the government that the proposed
changes to the 'no win, no fee' rules seriously undermine
access to justice for families like the Dowlers and other victims
of wrongdoing.
Des Hudson, Chief Executive of the Law Society said:
“After all they have been through we welcome - and are
humbled by - the intervention of theDowler family in this debate.
They have succeeded in making it clear to thePrime Minister that it
is ordinary families with terrible life challenges that will be
impacted the most. They will be the losers. As a society we need
toprotect them and their access to justice.
The only winners from the government's proposed changes in
the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will be
insurance companies and large corporations, that will now have to
pay out hundreds of millions of pounds less when they commit
negligence or other wrongs, such as illegal phone tapping. The
losers will be victims of wrongdoing, who will in future be simply
too intimidated by the financial risks to seeking redress.
Coupled with the proposed 350 million cut to legal aid
funding, these changes to 'no win, no fee' agreements form a
devastating dual assault on access to justice. In the criminal
justice field the Government is quite rightly trying to place the
victim at the heart of the system. Why then -in the civil justice
field - is it willing to risk removing victims from the heart of
the civil justice system and replacing them with the interests of
the insurance lobby and large multi-national corporations like News
International? The government must re-examine these plans as a
matter of urgent priority.'
The Dowlers close their letter by warning the Prime Minister:
“We are sure you do not want to go down as the Prime Minister
who took the rights away from ordinary people so that large
companies could print whatever they like and break the
law”.
BY-LINE TO BE USED IN ALL COPY
Sound Off For Justice is a public campaign promoting alternative
reforms to Legal Aid. Visit
www.soundoffforjustice.orgfor more details.
CONTACT
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION / INTERVIEWS / TO VIEW LETTERS
Jonny Mulliganjonny@hellounity.com 02074409827
Andrew Soarandrew.soar@hellounity.com02074409826
Keji Olutimayinkej@hellounity.com 02074409814
Natalie Wheeler
Natalie@hellounity.com 02074409819