Thursday, 28th January 2010

Traveller refused entry to Krystle Nightclub

"Devastated and shocked" was how a young Traveller women felt when she was refused access to Krystle nightclub for a charity event.

Yesterday, District Court Judge John O’Neill said the club had “blackguarded” Sarah Stokes and threatened to close it down.

He complimented her on her behaviour when the club refused to admit her to a fund-raising fuction for Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association charity.

Sarah Stokes talked to Pat about her case

Speed Limit

From next Monday motorists will be obliged to obey a snail's pace 30kph speed limit on selected roads in Dublin City Centre. The City Council’s Transport Committee claims the ultra - low limit will make the streets safer and assist free flow of traffic.

The plan has been criticized by the AA’s Conor Faughnan but the man behind the scheme, Chairman of the Transport Committee, Labour Councillor Andrew Montague has managed to convince the Council to give it the green light.

Both Conor Faughnan and Andrew Montague talked to Pat on the programme this morning

Edward de Bono

Edward de Bono is regarded as the leading international authority in the field of creative thinking, innovation and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. Well, never more than now, in a time of economic bust and climate change, is creative thinking needed.

Edward is in town to talk at a lunch hosted by the Daily Mail in Fallon and Byrne today, where he will talk to marketing professionals about how lateral thinking can get us out of the recession. He joined Pat in studio this morning.

Medical Ethics

Kathy is a doctor in a small town – a woman comes into her with a sick child – Dr Kathy recommends that the child should be out of school for a week – Then the mum asks for a sick note for herself as well as she has no one to mind her child – what does Kathy do? John is a doctor in a major city A and E – a 21 year old Asian woman is admitted after falling from a horse. Her condition worsens and she slips into a coma. Tests reveal there is no sign of life. The woman carries an organ donor card but her parents are opposed to this because on religious grounds. What does John and the medical team do?

“Medical Ethics” is the application of general ethical principles to the solution of the moral problems of the medical profession.

Sounds complicated and it is but it’s also hugely interesting when you break down some of the cases which come up in front of doctors on a regular basis.

And where does the law come into this – well one key point is that what’s lawful is not necessarily ethical and what is ethical may not actually be legislated for.

Last night the Mini Med lecture series began at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and Professor David Smith kicked the series off with a lecture on “Medical Ethics and the Law”.

Professor Smith joined Pat in studio this morning

Consumer item – Small Claims Procedures

This is traditionally the time of year when most consumer complaints are logged, coming after the biggest shopping splurge of the year.

If you haven’t been able to get your broken shoes replaced, your television fixed or if you’re a small business with an unresolved dispute, you might consider trying the Small Claims procedure.

So, how does the small claims system work and what potential pitfalls should you be aware of when submitting an application?

Consumer Expert, Tina Leonard came in to give us the lowdown

The road to small claims

If you have a complaint about a broken washing machine, or a plumber who ruined your carpet, the first port of call is always to make a complaint to the retailer or service provider. If that doesn’t work, then you should put your complaint in writing and if that doesn’t get you anywhere then your last port of call is the small claims procedure. So to sum up, you have to have tried to resolve your complaint first before you consider taking a small claim.

What is the small claims procedure?

The procedure provides cheap and easy access to justice for consumer complaints. You pay a non-refundable fee of €15 and you can claim up to €2000. It is not a court in itself but is part of the District Court system.

Therefore, the court does not sit constantly but only on certain days and some courts may have the flexibility to add more as per demand. For example, the Dublin city centre small claims procedure sits once a month while Roscrea small claims court sits once every two months. You might have twenty to thirty claims at a sitting but it still means that if you apply today there is going to be a wait as you might not get into the next court’s sitting.

How to apply

Fortunately the application system is pretty simple. There is a one-page form where you include both your address (you’re the claimant) and the name and address of the business/company you’re claiming against (the respondent), and then a paragraph explaining the problem and detailing how much you are claiming for.

You should also add a copy of any complaint letter/s sent and response/s received, photos if relevant, expert statements if relevant (i.e. a mechanic or electrician or dentist), and a copy of proof of purchase i.e. receipt / credit card statement. You’ll also have to add your €15 fee.

This can all be done online at www.courts.ie where you prompted for the relevant information. Over 50% of all claims made in 2008 were made online.

Key things to know for the application:
o You send the claim to the District Court nearest the respondent’s address and not the one nearest to you.
o You must have the respondent’s legal business or company name and NOT their trading name, which may be different. You can find this out at the Companies Registration Office at www.cro.ie. There you can do a free search or pay €3.50 to get more detailed info.

Who can I claim against?

You can claim against a business or company. You cannot take a claim against an individual. However, some Registrars seem to apply some flexibility here as I have heard from people who have successfully taken claims against trades people, who were not registered as businesses, but were, of course carrying out their usual business.

Since 1st January 2009 you can submit a small claim against any business/company in the EU. This is called the European Small Claims procedure and is Europe-wide. Consumers and small businesses can use this. In Ireland it works in the same way as the regular procedure. There are no stats yet for this procedure.

Since the beginning of this year, small businesses (SMEs) can also use the small claims procedure to claim against another business. The threshold and procedure remain the same.

Types of claim

It does not cover debt claims, personal injury or rental issues, just for issues relating to products or services.

In 2008 there were 4,000 claims in all countrywide (2009 numbers not yet available).

The top claims were:
1. Holidays 403
2. Cars 372
3. Electrical goods 359
4. Furniture 340
5. Damage to property 288
6. Dry Cleaners 220
7. Building 213
8. Professional service 211
Carpets / floors / computers all the way to shoes at 57.

How the procedure works

You submit your claim and the small claims registrar will assess it and may have to contact you for further information. Then they will contact the respondent who has at least 15 days to respond (some courts will give longer).

Then one of three things can happen:

1. Your claim is not disputed
If the Respondent admits your claim he/she is required to notify the Registrar's office by returning a Notice of Acceptance of Liability form. The District Court will then make an order in your favour (without you having to attend court) for the amount claimed, and direct that it be paid within a short specific period of time. In 2008 1,700 or 53% of all eligible claims were settled this way

2. The Respondent doesn’t reply.
If the Respondent does not reply to the initial correspondence from the Small Claims Registrar within the time frame, the claimant (you) wins by default, as the claim is treated as undisputed. 350 claims were won this way in 2008.

3. Your claim is disputed
If the Small Claims Registrar receives a notice from the Respondent disputing your claim or making a counterclaim against you, the Registrar will contact you and let you have a copy of the Respondent's answer.?The Registrar may interview and negotiate with both parties to try to reach an agreement.
Other stats: In 2008, 400 claims were rejected as they weren’t covered by the procedure and a further 400 pulled out of the procedure at this stage.

What happens if it is unresolved?

Then it is listed for a court hearing. When the day comes there will be 20 or so other claims being heard, and some judges, once s/he has role called everyone, will ask the claimants and respondents to step outside and try and resolve it amicably. Those who can’t go back into the court room and the judge will give his/her ruling. That will take only a few minutes.

There is no need for a solicitor, although some companies will send legal representation in on their behalf, but this won’t have any effect on your case. You should bring all your documentation and you can bring a witness if you feel you need to.

However, your claim may not be listed immediately if the office is still waiting for correspondence from the respondent. This is when you, the claimant must keep in contact with the small claims office to make sure your case is followed up on and will be given a court date.

For example, let’s say the respondent made a counterclaim, you submitted more information and then the respondent never replied to that. The small claims office will list your case as open and won’t act because they are still waiting for a response. Months can pass and this case should be listed for court.

However, the technical resources are not in place to ensure this happens. Instead you must contact the office and ask for your case to be checked. If time has passed and there has been no new correspondence from the respondent, you must ask for your case to be listed for court. In some instances you will be asked to put this in writing.

If you’ve applied online you can check online for updates to your file using the reference number you were given. If there are none, contact the office and request a court hearing.

What happens after court?

1,000 or 25% of all claims in 2008 went to court. 440 won their case; 200 were dismissed by the judge and the remainder were withdrawn / settled before the court date.

Once a court order is issued to the business / company you will be notified and the respondent has approx 4 weeks to pay up.

If they don’t you can ask for the Sheriff to execute the court order (decree). In a minority of cases this doesn’t work but no stats are available.

Both parties can appeal to the Circuit Court, where legal costs etc. will be involved although the Circuit Court could award you costs.

Phil Vassar

Nashville country star, Phil Vassar, will perform an intimate show upstairs in Whelan’s tonight.



His resume boasts six number 1 hits for country artists including Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, and three more as an artist in his own right. And he was with Pat in studio to give us a couple of tunes this morning.

Leakage

Water, water everywhere; nor any drop to drink...that's been the problem in many parts of the country. We can see and feel the rainwater but our taps are dry. What is the problem and what are our local authorities doing about it?

Valerie Cox has been out with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown county council to find out how they're coping.