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

Leila's Story - Fired for making a complaint

Leila was fired the day after making a complaint about her employment

Leila’s Story

Fired for making a complaint

Leila is a woman in her 60s from Papua New Guinea who speaks English as her second language. She has no income and is being supported by her family. Leila was fired the day after making a complaint about her employment.

Leila did not achieve a successful outcome at the Fair Work Commission and approached LawRight for assistance commencing in the Federal Courts. We gave Leila general advice about commencing proceedings, which Leila did independently.

We arranged an in-person appointment for Leila with our volunteer lawyers to provide her with general advice about her claim and assisted her to prepare for an upcoming case management hearing. Due to the challenges Leila had faced self-representing to date, and Leila’s own view of her capacity to self-represent, we decided to place Leila’s matter with a firm.

Leila then received full representation from the firm. Leila is very grateful and provided us with this feedback.

“I cannot thank you all, the Staff and the Volunteers Lawyers for the tremendous work & support you all have given to me for 6 months, without a job and no income”.

by Staff Editor

Siti's Story - Restoring confidence for a DV victim-survivor

“Please forward my thanks and gratitude to the [volunteer lawyer]”

Siti’s Story

Siti migrated to Australia with her husband and children in 2009. She and her children were victims of domestic violence by her husband, and the children were removed from the parents’ care as a result. Siti needed a blue card to complete the placement component of her studies in education, and to apply for related jobs. Blue Card Services issued a negative notice based on their concerns about her interactions with Child Safety and her criminal history, which included a charge for assault occasioning bodily harm due to physically disciplining her child in 2014. LawRight helped Siti apply to reverse Blue Card Services’s decision and pro bono lawyers supported Siti to represent herself at the final hearing. QCAT set aside the decision to issue a negative notice, and when Siti applied to Blue Card again, she was issued with a positive notice. Siti said LawRight helped her in many more ways than just getting a blue card – she said she is now more confident, that the process helped her learn about herself and that she can now competently use a computer.

“Please forward my thanks and gratitude to the last [volunteer lawyer]. He really motivated me and his explanation was so clear and easy to follow when he was explaining to me on how to draft My Outline of Argument because at that time my mind is too condensed to receive further new information. He make it easy for me to understand by breaking it down the context.”

by Staff Editor

Jacqui's Story - Rebuilding after trauma

Rebuilding her life after childhood trauma, Jacqui’s progress was halted by a Blue Card decision

Jacqui’s Story

Jacqui is a university social work student who is rebuilding her life, despite many challenges. Her parents severely abused her as a child and in a common manifestaion of trauma, later partnered with a violent abuser. During that relationship she committed property crimes and was imprisoned. Following her release, Jacqui began to rebuild her life by seeing a counsellor to deal with PTSD and depression and enrolling at university. To complete the practical placement for her degree, she required a Blue Card (working with children check).

When Blue Card Services (BCS) rejected Jacqui’s application due to her past criminal history, pro bono volunteers with our QCAT service helped Jacqui apply for review of BCS’ decision. A LawRight member firm and barrister provided ongoing representation to help Jacqui prepare evidence and participate in a compulsory conference. BCS was ordered to reconsider its decision but decided to maintain its refusal. However, six days before the final QCAT hearing, BCS again reconsidered its decision and this time, issued Jacqui with a Blue Card.

This seems a good outcome, but it was 1,007 days from when Jacqui applied for a Blue Card to when she was issued with one – a process that takes most people just a few months. LawRight considers there are structural and individual inequalities in both the extent of these delays and the reasons Blue Card provides for making their decisions.

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

Sam and Kat's Story - An uninhabitable home

A week after settlement, Sam & Kat discovered their home was so termite ridden it was uninhabitable

Sam and Kat’s Story

Sam and Kat have four young children, each with a disability. With their small, combined income of $56,000 they bought a house with a clear pest inspection but within a week of settlement, they discovered termite damage everywhere – the house was uninhabitable.

It seemed the real estate agent had known about the termite issues, so Sam and Kat started District Court proceedings against them but could not afford ongoing legal costs, especially when the estate agent joined other parties.

Pro bono lawyers, who first met Sam and Kat at a LawRight appointment, then directly assisted them for many hours to significantly amend the Statement of Claim. After this phase was finalised, Sam and Kat returned to LawRight for help to respond to the Defence and to prepare for mediation. A settlement payment was agreed and LawRight helped them discontinue the proceedings.

They were “incredibly thankful” for LawRight’s help and are now “planning on moving forward and putting all of this behind us”.

by Staff Editor

Asha's Story - Hearing threatens homelessness

“LawRight … went above and beyond in assisting the client to prepare for a daunting QCAT Hearing.”

Asha’s Story

Asha is a single mother of five children who was at risk of being evicted into homelessness from her rental property. Staff and pro bono lawyers worked closely with Asha’s community support team to prepare for her tribunal hearing: drafting submissions, speaking notes, and providing advice on negotiations with the housing provider. Ultimately, the parties settled the dispute and Asha was able to stay.

“LawRight provided an invaluable service to our shared client. They took the time to understand the client’s goals and values and went above and beyond in assisting the client to prepare for a daunting QCAT Hearing. They also took the time to ensure that I had an in depth understanding of their work, enabling me to pass information on to other clients in similar positions. LawRight was instrumental in the client achieving a fantastic outcome and they have been a wonderful organisation to work alongside.”

– Kyabra community housing worker

by Staff Editor