“And upon the court recording that AH has, through her counsel, expressed a willingness to undergo a capacity assessment and a care co-ordination assessment …; that she is willing to be interviewed on her own for such assessments; that she is willing for her medical and social work records to be disclosed for such assessments. And upon DH assuring the court that he will not obstruct, in any way whatsoever, AH in undergoing a capacity assessment or a care co-ordination assessment and not to discourage AH from attending such assessments.”
“taken at face value, would lead those professionals [that is social workers and Dr. McInerney] to have a degree of concern. Our client’s instructions are that he believes it to be part of his wife’s extremely complex condition that she describes aspects of her life in a way which does not represent reality. Our client accepts that the premise of these proceedings is that the local authority believes his wife’s descriptions of how he has treated her may be true, but the point of our raising this issue in this context is that reading what his wife is recorded as having told Dr. McInerney is highly unlikely to produce any surprises to our client or, therefore, to produce any increased level of risk to his wife”
“Dr. Khouja shall provide a supplementary report considering the recent Social Services assessment of AH, and he may also include in that supplementary report, any matter or opinion which he would wish to report upon, but he is of the view should be withheld from DH pending judicial determination of any disclosure issues.”
“Dr. Khouja’s supplementary report shall be provided to the complainant and the Official Solicitor, but it may be withheld from DH subject to subsequent judicial determination of whether that report or matters within it should be disclosed to DH.”
“When it came to the assessment sessions ordered by the court, Social Services personnel clearly demonstrated to us that they lacked the ability to recognise that I (AH) have mental health problems - when they were sat with a consultant psychiatrist’s diagnosis in front of them - what chance have they got to recognise how my complex mix of OCD, phobias, obsessions, rituals, compulsive, cognitive distortions, mood swings and perseveration has some effect on what I say and how I say it in response to their questions. They were unable, or unwilling, to ask secondary and tertiary questions etc. in order to clarify, untangle and translate my ‘cognitive distortions’. So they got most of it wrong”
“On11th May 2009 , I received a telephone call from Penny Hardman advising me that she had received a call from DH. DH had said to Ms. Hardman that he had received a bill from the solicitors representing AH and that, if he did not pay the bill, then AH would no longer have legal representation. Ms. Hardman told me that she had said to DH that he needed to discuss that matter with me, and that she had made no promises to DH in relation to the legal costs. DH provided contact details for MS, a trainee solicitor at Irwin Mitchell”
“MS calling client, as not heard from her as expected. Left message further to conversation with DH yesterday. No arrangement re our fees - need money on account or not able to do any more work. Still need to speak to AH. Can she call next week?”
“Trials are conducted on the basis of the principle of natural justice. There are a number of strands to this. A party has a right to know the case against him and the evidence on which it is based. He is entitled to have the opportunity to respond to any such evidence and to any submissions made by the other side. The other side may not advance contentions or adduce evidence of which he is kept in ignorance”
“In deciding whether departure is justified, the court will have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including - (a) the conduct of the parties; (b) whether a party has succeeded on part of his case, even if he has not been wholly successful; and (c) the role of any public body involved in the proceedings”.
“1) It is not submitted that NCC should pay the costs of the proceedings on the basis, simply, that they are withdrawing them. This, it is acknowledged, would create a disincentive to proceedings being withdrawn for constructive reasons. It would also be inconsistent with Rule 157. However, it is submitted that there was a lack of planning by NCC about what useful outcome might result from the proceedings, once it became known that AH wanted to remain living with DH. From this point, the discontinuation of the proceedings became highly likely, if not inevitable, and NCC should be ordered to pay DH’s and AH’s costs from that point. 2) DH and AH rely on the asserted assurance by social workers in or about May 2009 that NCC would pay AH’s legal costs. AH told DH this immediately after the first assessment session. NCC should pay her costs incurred in the sum of just over£8,300 . 3) NCC should pay the costs incurred by DH in the instruction of Dr. Khouja”
“Our client accepts that the premise of the proceedings is that the local authority believes that his wife’s descriptions of how he has treated her may be true”