At 2.30pm on Wednesday 29 March 2000 I remembered why I loved and had chosen to work in civil law at Legal Aid. I was on the afternoon advice roster at head office and I met Patt Dengate. She told me that a Plaintiff was in the Supreme Court the next day trying to sell her up out of house and home. Patt is 64 years old, on the aged pension, diagnosed with cancer in 1997 and losing her eye sight due to chemotherapy. It appeared that someone felt simply battling cancer was not enough for Patt.
By the time Patt landed at Legal Aid on Wednesday afternoon she had been around the referral merry go-around with a short stop over in hospital for a week. Although Patt was not yet a party to the proceedings, she had been to see the Plaintiff who had told her they were going to press for orders the next day to sell her home.
The title of the house was in Patt’s name and that of her friend, Paul Harding. The Plaintiff, a finance company, was a creditor of Paul Harding. They claimed an equitable charge over his share of the property arising from a debt he had guaranteed. However Paul had told Patt that he was buying the property for her. The only reason Paul’s name was on the title was that otherwise the bank would not provide finance to purchase the home as Patt was over 55 years of age. The legal effect of this is that Paul’s share was not his own and he held it on trust for Patt. Despite Patt telling this to both Paul’s solicitor and the solicitor in Urunga who had acted on the conveyance of the property, neither had told her that she may be able to fight the Plaintiff’s claim. No-one else she saw would look into her case without payment.
Enter Legal Aid centre stage. I made an emergency grant of legal aid to Patt and appeared for her the next day and got the matter adjourned over opposition from the Plaintiff.
My next month consisted of a whirlwind of briefing Counsel, ringing witnesses, issuing subpoenas, inspecting files and all that goes with running a Supreme Court equity case. And throughout it all Patt was coming in for affidavits and to give instructions in between chemotherapy sessions and having her lungs drained. The case was heard on 8 and 9 May 2000 before Justice Bryson. On Friday 12 May 2000 he handed down his decision. Fortune favours the brave: Patt won. She can keep her home. And I had the unusual pleasure of telling a client something so good it makes them cry.
Contact: Rachel Francois, Civil Litigation, on 02 9219 5821 or email: rachel.francois@legalaid.nsw.gov.au |
