Juanita’s Story

Juanita had an ongoing dispute with a former friend, Noah. She had agreed with Noah to pay for works to be done on Noah’s property so she could place a live in container there, on the understanding that they would live together in the container, and that he would repay her for the container and works if their relationship broke down. Their friendship fell apart, but Noah refused to pay Juanita.

Juanita received extensive assistance and advice from LawRight over the course of about 18 months to help her understand her potential causes of action and the litigation process, and commence and progress Magistrates Court proceedings against Noah. Juanita had difficulty understanding legal concepts and terminology and was not very good at using technology. However, LawRight’s staff, secondee and volunteer lawyers spent many hours patiently advising Juanita in writing and over the phone, making sure to explain each step as clearly as possible and helping Juanita to fix up any mistakes she made.

We helped Juanita request a Magistrates Court settlement conference, and at the settlement conference the parties agreed to settle the matter, with Noah agreeing to let Juanita remove the container from his property and keep it. Juanita said she had tried to avoid going to Court as long as possible, and she was very pleased that the matter was finally over.

Thank you all very much for the long hours spent to help me.

by Tracey Press

Joanne's Story - Challenging default judgment

Sued for an accident she didn’t cause, Joan struggled to find legal help.

Joanne’s Story

Joanne is an indigenous woman getting by on Centrelink payments, and her only asset is the house she lives in with her two children.

Joanne has difficulty reading and writing, so she was very confused when one day she received a letter and court documents from a lawyer.

Joanne tried to contact some law firms in her local area, but she couldn’t afford legal advice and nobody would help her. Joanne attended a drop-in advice clinic at another community legal centre. They couldn’t provide ongoing help, so they connected Joanne to our State Courts office.

It turns out that someone had sued her in the Magistrates Court for damage caused by a car accident. The Plaintiff had managed to get a default judgment against Joanne for $13,000 without Joanne’s knowledge and was threatening to start enforcement proceedings. Joanne couldn’t pay the $13,000 and risked losing her house. What’s more, she hadn’t even been the driver at the time of the accident – her brother had borrowed her car and was driving at the time of the accident.

Through several appointments with LawRight’s State Courts office, we helped Joanne to file multiple court documents to apply to set aside the default judgment and defend the claim against her. LawRight staff, secondee and volunteer lawyers helped Joanne understand the court process, drafted her court documents, gave her east to follow step by step instructions about what she needed to do to file and serve her court documents, and talked her through attending court hearings.

After Joanne put her defence before the Court, the Plaintiff agreed to completely drop the proceedings against her and pay their own legal costs..

by Tracey Press

Nick's Story - Blue Card cancellation

Legal support guided Nick through a complex review

Nick’s Story

Nick is a young man with an intellectual disability who was influenced by an older associate to make a prank call while he was drunk. This led to criminal charges but no conviction was recorded. However, Blue Card Services (BCS) cancelled Nick’s blue card, even after learning that since the charge Nick received an NDIS package which supported him to resist outside influence and that he was not considered a risk to children.

Pro bono volunteer lawyers helped Nick prepare evidence to review the BCS decision at QCAT and Pro bono barrister, Clare O’Connor represented him at a compulsory conference. At the hearing HBA Legal provided full representation pro bono and instructed Christopher Wilson of Counsel.

by Staff Editor

Ji-Min's Story - Blamed for theft

Months of stress were resolved when our Magistrate’s Court service helped Ji-Min with her debt.

Ji-Min’s Story

The service helped Ji-Min, who hired a car, which was stolen after her locked house was broken into and the car-keys taken. The hire car company started Magistrates Court proceedings for damages, arguing that Ji-Min failed to keep the car locked and the keys secure. She was told “she should have slept with the keys on her” and that if she didn’t propose a payment plan, costs would escalate.

Ji-Min tried to prepare a defence but found the task and process too complicated, so she reached out to LawRight. A pro bono lawyer helped Ji-Min understand the court process and the deficiencies in the statement of claim and assisted her to respond with a settlement offer. This was accepted and the matter was discontinued. This outcome resolved months of stress for Ji-Min and ensured that court resources wouldn’t be wasted.

by Staff Editor

Joseph's Story - Debt threatened bankruptcy

Overwhelmed by personal troubles, Joseph missed deadlines and faced bankruptcy.

Joseph’s Story

Joseph had a defence to the debt claim brought against him in the Magistrates Court, however he wasn’t made aware of the hearing date and a default judgement was made. When the creditor then petitioned for his bankruptcy, Joseph got advice from our Federal Courts office about how to set aside the default judgement but he was so overwhelmed by his money, personal and health troubles that he delayed taking action and a sequestration order was made. LawRight kept helping Joseph and, together with our Magistrates Court pilot service, he prepared evidence of his defence to the default judgement and the sequestration order was overturned on review.

by Staff Editor

Evie's Story - Forced to leave without payment or belongings

After fleeing her rental due to stalking, Evie lost her belongings and her rightful payment

Evies’s Story

Evie agreed to live in a run-down house and renovate it in return for a lower rent. When a relative of the owners started stalking her, she applied for a DVO and had to leave the house.

Despite multiple verbal and written agreements from the owners to return belongings she had left behind and to pay her for $35,000 of renovations, no payments were made. Evie wanted to start proceedings in the Magistrates Court but after a series of appointments with volunteer lawyers, she issued a letter of demand. The matter was resolved after we helped Evie respond to a settlement offer.

by Staff Editor

Sasha's Story - Online dating scam

Victim of an online dating scam, Sasha was left with an unpayable debt

Sasha’s Story

Sasha believed the man she met on the internet who said he loved her and promised to visit but ‘in the meantime could she help him?’ Some goods were delivered to her that she packaged and sent on. The police were soon involved and told her she’d been scammed but her real distress came when the supplier of the goods commenced court proceedings for almost $20,000. Sasha could only just afford the low-cost home loan she had through a First Nations service, had no other income and many debts. She was worried she would lose her home and felt angry and embarrassed. Sasha sought help from a community support service in Cairns and was connected to LawRight’s on-site service. They connected her to our pilot Magistrate Courts Service. Pro bono lawyers from Brisbane worked with her support workers to help Sasha prepare and file a defence. The plaintiff discontinued the proceedings.

Our Cairns office continued to support this process and in conversation with Sasha learnt her car loan debt was adding to her stress. The loan didn’t meet responsible lending standards and Sasha was again connected to Brisbane lawyers who negotiated a loan refund of $4500 and fairer repayments.

by Staff Editor