Truth be Told

Employment Judge Balogun Croydon Tribunal

December 31, 2014 By AAV

Employment Judge Balogun, aka Adenike Muinat Balogun was appointed as a Salaried Part-time Employment Judge in the London South Region, in November 2009. She dealt with my tribunal hearing. You can read more about how she dealt with my case here. My case included issues of bullying, disability discrimination and how mental health (depression) is dealt with in the workplace.

In August 2012, at Croydon Tribunal, Judge Balogun refused my application to submit my covert recordings and transcripts, which not surprisingly was later overturned on appeal. She also refused to read my transcripts or listen to the covert recordings I made until they had been professionally transcribed, which would have cost me about £10,000- and she was aware I was not working. The appeal judge concluded that I should not have to get the recordings professionally transcribed.

Judge Balogun then decided to only allow me to adduce 5 hours out of a grand total of 39 hours of covert recordings as evidence. Go figure!

She later went on to dismiss my case, and ordered me to pay over £90,000 in costs.

It’s important to note the following:

I produced over 2500 pages of evidence supporting my case.
I cross-examined the Respondents’ witnesses for several days, (around 25 hours of questioning), yet in the Tribunal judgment there is little or no mention of the questions I asked and the responses given.
In the Tribunal judgment, there is also no mention of the content of the 4 equality form questionnaires and responses that I submitted in support of my claim. In my witness statement I analyzed and made reference to the questionnaires and pointed out where the Respondents’ answers were obstructive, equivocal and evasive. The law states that a Tribunal should take this into account.
There is little or no mention of my 2 witness statements totally over 250 pages and my written submissions, totalling over 360 pages, which cited dozens pieces of case-law that supported my case.

For even more examples like this, just view the case files.

Litigants in Person Beware of Dirty Tricks

May 14, 2014 By AAV

Representing yourself at the Tribunal or in Court can be daunting enough without also having to deal with the ‘dirty tricks’ that the other side might play. Some dirty tricks to watch out for are:

The preparation of a joint bundle:

The other side may remove your evidence from the joint bundle at the last minute (without telling you or obtaining your consent), in an effort to suppress your damning evidence against them- be prepared to make an application to the judge to order them to put it back in.

If you sent any evidence to them by post they may also claim that it wasn’t in the package, so always scan your evidence and send it to them by e-mail as well if you can and be sure to get them to confirm receipt.

Witness statements:

Exchange witness statement simultaneously with the other side to ensure that they don’t get an advantage over you. Get written confirmation from them by e-mail that they are ready to exchange and then exchange the documents via e-mail.

Trying to ‘trip you up’ on the witness stand:

The other side may deliberately misstate some of your the evidence that you have previously given, (orally or otherwise) and then try to get you to agree with their version of events. They do this to confuse you.

When you are being questioned by them be sure not to let them ‘put words in your mouth’.

They will also try to ask your questions very quickly in order to help them achieve this aim and confuse you more.

Do not be rushed, and if necessary, just speak extra slowly in order to control the pace of the questioning.

They may also ask you the same question many times, asking it in different ways to try to get the ‘Ye’s or ‘No’ answer that they are after.

When questioning you at rapid speed, they will even try to associate the answer you give to a different question to what you intended. When you try to correct this, it will make you seem like you are confused, unsure or even lying!

Under these circumstances, don’t take the bait and simply don’t say anything.

When the other side stops questioning you like that you can then give your answer so that it is clear what question your answer is in response to.

Self-Repping….’The revolution!’ Go tell your friends!!

The Rise of the Self Represented Claimant

February 14, 2014 By AAV

Are you a self represented Claimant in a David and Goliath situation, and without any legal training or knowledge?

The view taken by Goliath, (the big companies) is that you are supposed to know your place and not challenge the ‘big boys’.

Well here’s a news flash for the ‘big boys’…self-represented Claimants are on the rise and they are also a force to be reckoned with!

If you study any well-known David and Goliath case, you will see that the Goliaths, (the big companies), do not play fair and that dirty tactics are often used.

You may be offered a large sum of money to settle the case, (and also to also keep your mouth shut), like me, if you don’t accept it, you then have to prepare yourself for a long drawn out battle.

You will have to be very resourceful and do your homework. For example:

You should try to raise the profile of your case, by setting up a website or joining online forums to publicize your case, (trying not to reveal too much detail) and invite people to come to any hearings that take place, emphasizing the fact that it will be a public hearing.

Write as much as you can in your skeleton arguments and witness statements as the Judge will not necessarily include everything you say in your oral arguments.

Always bring as many people as possible with you to the Tribunal and Court and ask them to take notes on your behalf. This will come in handy for when you are putting together your legal arguments together after the hearing. These individuals will also act as your witnesses as to what went on during the proceedings.

As a litigant in person, you are entitled to bring a friend into court to provide assistance. In the UK this person is known as a McKenzie Friend.

Don’t be quick to shout bias. This will go against you. The Tribunals and Courts hate it when you accuse one of their own of this.

Before you go before a Judge, find out as much as you can about their record.

Go to the Tribunal or Court to listen to cases.

Check out caught.net or the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) website and look up the judge to see if they have been disciplined or had any complaints made about them before.

Don’t try to use the JCIO website to make a complaint about the judge though, as this is not permitted.

If you want to make a complaint, you should use the Tribunal or Court’s own complaints procedure, this procedure is for making complaints about the administrative side of things), for example failures to write to you, respond to your correspondence within the specified time-frames etc.

You can’t use the Tribunal or Court’s complaints procedure to complain about the Judges decision or their handling of your case.

You should also google the judge to find out if anyone has been successful in appealing their decision before.

You an also check out the many websites available on the internet which will let you know whether or not you are dealing with an unscrupulous legal professional. For example, try doing a google search on ‘cowboy solicitors’.

If the respondent is legally represented, you can also ask the respondent to send you copies of case law and authorities and copy in the Tribunal when you do.
It will look bad if they refuse, as they subscribe to databases containing case law.

In the UK, University students have access to Westlaw and Lexis, (quite expensive legal databases that you have to subscribe to), so if you know a University student, you could ask them to search for a case on your behalf.

Try to research case law/legal cases relevant to your situation. Some good sites to go on are:

Bailii: Free (UK based)

Google Scholar: Free (International)

Fastcase: 24 hour free trial/ $65 per month after that. (US based)

Workrep: Free (UK based)

Law handbook: Free (Australian based)