falsely accused of rape now claiming compensation

[Lonely girl]

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum and need advise urgently.

My husband was falsely accused of indecent assault and rape over 30- 40 years ago by his daughter. Without going into too much details, we went through two years of hell. The judge ruled a stay on the procecution as it was a very unusual case(it was investigated previously), by the police and there was no evidence but police records were destroyed and it would have been an unfair trial because everytime she told the story, she added to it.

We were relieved and just thought we can move on with our lives. However we received a claim from solicitors, no win no fee, claiming for personal injury and damages over £120 000. My husband is a pensioner and the only assets we have is the house we live in. Solicitors threaten to freeze our assets if we do not respond in 14 days. We cannot get legal aid to defend my husband, and if we ignore the claim from court, the court can award her the money she claim for. We spoke to a solicitor today and he wants an agreement signed for security to pay him. We would have to sell our house to pay him. Does anyone have any advise? What can we do?
This girl was abused by her stepfather and he was found guilty of abuse of a few other children as well. She got compensation for that.

Please help. It is so unfair that there is so many solicitors who would help to claim money of a pensioner, but no one out there to help in a case like this.

[Casehardened]

Hi and welcome to the forum though I am sorry to read of the circumstances that have brought you here!

I am not aware of any of our members having been in your husbands predicament so you are treading fresh ground as it were.

I agree with you in that you cannot ignore this claim, unjust as it is, or the court will simply award an amount (which may well not be anywhere near £120K, this is just a figure plucked out of the air by the girl and the her solicitors) against him which will be recovered by court bailiffs by whatever means appropriate to the figure.

A compensation claim does not require the same burden of proof that a criminal case does so is easier to launch from a complainants viewpoint (but I am still surprised that a no-win no-fee firm have taken this on, they usually avoid this sort of case) but the defence against the claim is fairly straightforward in that a criminal court has already judged that there is no case to answer.

Nevertheless you still need legal advice, maybe you could find a local firm that offers a introductory 30 minute consultation for a fixed fee?

Bear in mind that if a court does consider and dismiss the claim it is likely (but not certain!) that your legal costs will be awarded against her (that is why these sort of claims are seldom brought)

Finally the solicitors threat of freezing your assets is bluster, they may well be able to get an injunction freezing your bank accounts (but you say you have no financial assets) but they cannot put a lien on your property without a court order.

I have found a website (Google is our friend!) which gives some guidance of what he should do now:

http://www.courtroomadvice.co.uk/sma...defendant.html

[frightened spouse]

My first thought would be , is it possible for the house to be put in your name so there are no assets for the solicitors to claim against ?

It must awful for this to be happening after everything you have previously endured, my heart goes out to you

[Rights Fighter]

I've just emailed a solicitor friend of mine who might be able to assist. If he can I'll need to find a way of contacting you. Let's see what he comes back with first

[lawlessone2009]

My first thought would be , is it possible for the house to be put in your name so there are no assets for the solicitors to claim against ?

It must awful for this to be happening after everything you have previously endured, my heart goes out to you

I believe, but may be wrong, that the house will still be counted as an asset even if there was to be a change of registered owner.

Further, the marriage would attach both parties.

However, I do believe that only 50% of the value of the house would be claimable.

This is an area where expert legal advice would be required. My 'beliefs' may be entirely wrong as they are a mish-mash of various different experiences from reading about bankruptcy, seizure laws and divorce.

Defending yourself is not unheard off but the stress and strain along with a trip into the unknown won't do you any favours. There are normally local law centres which are able to help for free, I have various ones near me, again something for Google me thinks.

[Rights Fighter]

Maybe put the house in the name of a trusted friend or family member and they can then become your landlord.

You have a right to a defence of course. You could say that you will seriously consider suing them for defamation and see what the response is.

[Lonely girl]

Thank you everyone for your responses, we went to CAB today to ask for advise, did not get much help there. However when we got home another pack of documents arrived through the letter box in which they have made an application to court to freeze the property, which they think will go to court on Monday 13th. If they freeze it, we would have no way of getting a loan to pay for defence. Is there any way we can stop this. I feel we are harrassed by the solicitor. Anyone know how quick we can transfer a property in someone elses name?

We are hoping to see a solicitor tomorrow but he charge £40 k to defend us. Does anyone know of a good solicitor that can defend us in the London area. I am trying to google but only find solicitors that will assist in claims rather then defending a claim.

My heart is breaking for my husband, he has heart problems and was just recently referred for investigation for lung cancer and this stress is getting to him. I am desperate but feel like I am constantly hitting a brick wall.

Lonely girl

[Rights Fighter]

This is civil defence yes?

[Lonely girl]

Yes it is RF, any news from your friend?

[Rights Fighter]

No but I've just asked for help on a solicitors and barristers FB group page. Sorry I can't promise anything as very short notice

[Rights Fighter]

Check your house (or other) insurance policies. There might be something on there that covers legal assistance.....

[Rights Fighter]

One person has come back with this:

"Has a limitation defence already been tried?

Limitation Act says that a claim must be bought within a certain amount of time from the index event. So 3 year limit in injury and most assaults. But if the claimant can show psychological injury in a sexual case then the starting date for the limitation period will only start to run when they are capable of recognising the index event as the cause".

I've asked "how about those running after aging popstars suing them left right and centre?" I await a response. Might be worth you quoting what has been said in your defence

[Rights Fighter]

We may have an answer here:

Solicitor advises this:

"So the Particulars of Claim are served. The defendant then files a defence based on the Limitation Act (and that he didn't do it) and then the court will deal with the limitation point as a preliminary issue. If the court leaves the Act applying them the claim is struck out. If the Act is dis applied then the claim continues".

So your defence is that the claim should be struck out due to the Limitation Act and that the offences were never committed in the first place.

[Rights Fighter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limitation_Act_1980

Make your case!!

[Rights Fighter]

I have asked one of the mods to give you my email address.