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02/09/10: Case summary added. Re Farrow (2010) COP 18/8/10 — The donor appointed A to be her attorney and then appointed B to act in the event that A should be unable or unwilling to act or died. The donor then stated that A and B should act jointly and severally. On the application of the attorneys the court severed the words "jointly and severally", so that the instrument could be registered as an EPA appointing A as primary attorney and B as substitute attorney. [OPG summary - EPA case.]
02/09/10: Case summary added. Re Lan (2010) COP 10/8/10 — The donor appointed two attorneys to act jointly and severally. She then imposed the following restriction: "Any major decisions should be discussed between my attorneys so that a joint agreement to the matter can be achieved." On the application of the Public Guardian this restriction was severed as being incompatible with a joint and several appointment. [OPG summary - LPA case.]
02/09/10: Case summary added. Re M Crook (2010) COP 16/7/10 — The donor's Health and Welfare LPA included an invalid restriction. A further defect was that she had not entered the date on which she executed Part A of the instrument in section 10, nor had she dated section 5 when selecting Option A. The Public Guardian does not regard a failure to execute the Options section as invalidating the instrument, but a failure to date Part A will normally do so. However, in this case the Public Guardian was prepared to infer that both sections had been executed on 13 October 2009, as Continuation Sheet A1 had been signed on that date, and so was the Part B certificate. In addition, the certificate provider had witnessed the Part A signatures. When applying for severance of the invalid restriction, the Public Guardian requested the court to direct that Part A was to be treated as having been signed on 13 October 2009, to avoid any challenges by third parties. The court accordingly included a provision in the order to the effect that sections 5 and 10 ..→
01/09/10: Transcript added to case page. Re Mark Reeves (2010) COP 5/1/10 — The Council, relying on a recent Court of Appeal judgment in relation to double recovery, compelled P's deputy to make an application to the Court of Protection for authorisation to apply for public funding. (1) The application was misconceived in seeking to apply the recent CA decision to this case which had been determined six years previously; (2) the Court of Protection is not an appropriate forum to adjudicate on double recovery in personal injury proceedings.
01/09/10: The LSC published Version 6 of "Civil Contract 2010 Verification: Frequently Asked Questions" today. This version corrects a previously incorrect answer to question 3.2 (I am concerned that I will not be able to deliver all the matter starts that I have been allocated, what should I do?) The answer in version 2 was: "If you are in any doubt as to whether you can deliver all your matter starts, please contact us through the message board and let us know how many you would like. We will then adjust your total. It is important that you receive the right allocation at the start of the contract." The current answer is: "You will be required to deliver both the volume and breadth of services for which you have successfully tendered and been allocated matter starts in accordance with your bid and ranking (if applicable to your tender). However, as part of the verification process the LSC is giving successful applicants who are concerned that they will not be able to deliver the volume allocated to them an opportunity to review their allocation and request a reduction. Where such requests are received we will consider the implications for the procurement area with a view to reallocating any surplus matter starts to other providers in accordance with the allocation process set out in the IFA." See Legal Aid News
25/08/10: Case summary added. WS v MHTS (2010) CSIH 74 — WS had been transferred from an English medium secure unit to the state hospital at Carstairs in Scotland under s80 MHA 1983. (1) His appeal to the MHTS under s220 Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 ("Appeal to Tribunal against transfer under section 218 to state hospital") was misconceived because he had not been transferred under s218. (2) The appropriate remedies would have been (a) a judicial review in England of the English s80 decision or (b) an appeal under the Scottish s264 ("Detention in conditions of excessive security: state hospitals"). (3) An order under s264 would oblige the Health Board to search for suitable accommodation in England if necessary.
25/08/10: CLS News "Update on accreditation contribution scheme" published on 18/8/10. From 14/10/10 the LSC will only pay £146.88 towards accreditation and re-accreditation to the Law Society Mental Health panel (these figures are from a document not on the LSC website). The rationale is that this is 50% of the cost. See Legal Aid News
25/08/10: New page added. Legal Ombudsman — From 6/10/10 any complaints about a solicitor in England or Wales will be made to the Legal Ombudsman instead of the Legal Complaints Service.
24/08/10: The Tribunal secretariat have introduced new application and referral forms, and a guidance document. They state that from 1/10/10 incomplete application forms will be rejected unless satisfactory reasons are given, and ask that duplicate forms are not sent. See Tribunal forms