Surge in divorces pushes up Government legal bill

Social Services struggles to meet demand

By Brian Reyes

A sharp rise in the number of divorce cases has led to a crippling workload for the Social Services Agency and contributed to a massive bill of over £2 million for publicly-funded legal assistance in the past two financial years.

The workload has created a backlog of welfare reports required by the courts to assist in ruling on matrimonial proceedings, with some cases delayed by up to a year.

Lawyers say this situation often leads to undue hardship for the families involved.
And because the courts need to keep track of cases while waiting for these reports, the delays also bump up the cost of publicly-funded legal representation. Each time a lawyer acting on legal assistance appears before a judge or a magistrate to check on the progress of a case, the meter is running and the final bill to the taxpayer is growing.

Figures presented to the last session of the House of Assembly in response to Opposition questions show that law firms have been paid £1.63 million from the public purse for legal assistance work carried out over the past two financial years.
In the 2003-2004 financial year alone, one legal practice was paid £255,791.38 for such work. The £1.63m total presented to the House is in fact below the actual total because it refers only to money paid to barristers and law firms, not all payments in respect of legal assistance. Figures available in government budget estimates show that the actual total for legal assistance and legal aid (the latter being but a small percentage of the overall sum) reached £1 million in 2003-2004, about double the amount paid in the preceding financial year.

The official forecast for 2004-2005 is that the bill for legal assistance and legal aid will reach just over £1.2 million. While there is no doubt as to the value and importance of the publicly-funded work that lawyers do, there is widespread concern across political and legal circles that the cost of legal assistance needs to be reined in.

Ironically, while some lawyers specialise in civil cases and make decent earnings from publicly-funded work, legal assistance is seen by most of the legal community as one of the least lucrative areas in which to practice.

Divorces and workloads

At the root of the problem is an acute rise in the number of divorce cases over the past three years, alongside a rise in child protection cases. That has forced the Social Services Agency to stretch its resources in order to cope with the increased workload. The urgent nature of child protection issues mean such cases have to be given precedence and dealt with swiftly, requiring the full-time attention of members of the agency’s staff who had previously also handled welfare reports.

The outcome is that since the tail end of 2003, just one social worker has been tasked with writing welfare reports for the courts. These reports are often required in civil cases and are essential before decisions can be taken on issues such as access to children. Each report requires extensive work - including interviews, school and home visits and writing time – and can take up to eight weeks to complete. The extent of the workload is clearly illustrated by the fact that over the past two financial years, the social worker responsible for the job has prepared a total of 53 child welfare reports.

“During the financial year 2003-2004 there was a noted increase in child protection matters, as well as a marked increase in requests for reports which can be directly attributable to the very significant increase in divorce rates in the last three years,” said Yvette del Agua, the Minister for Social Affairs, during the latest session of the House of Assembly.

“The number of social workers involved in writing these reports was reduced and there began to be a delay of reports of three to six months.

“During the financial year 2004-2005 the delay reached a maximum of 12 months.”

Lawyers have told the Chronicle of cases where parents have had to wait for months before they can see their children because of the tailback of reports.

Mrs del Agua told the Chronicle that when the problem first became evident toward the end of 2003, the Social Services Agency implemented a plan to try to address the root cause. In March 2004, it set up a mediation service to try and help families resolve their problems amicably and avoid having to resort to the courts. The service worked to start with and helped about 25 families but, according to the minister, lawyers largely stopped using it after the first few months.

In the face of continued pressure and a clear trend in family break-ups, the Social Services Agency has been left with no other option but to recruit additional staff and will soon advertise for two new social workers to form part of a Court Social Work Team.

“We have tried different answers but it is now obvious that we need to employ more people,” Mrs del Agua said.

Nothing New

The issues arising from matrimonial disputes in the courts are nothing new and have been highlighted often. At the Opening of the Legal Year last month, Chief Justice Derek Schofield pointed to forthcoming reforms to the way matrimonial disputes are resolved. He said Matrimonial Causes Rules were being overhauled but that this had proved more difficult than anticipated, adding that the judiciary shared the government’s concern over the legal assistance bill.

“The new procedures will be designed to get the judges involved at an early stage with a view to taking as much sting out of the divorce as possible,” he said.

The GSLP/Liberals alliance has also tried to draw attention to this matter. For the past two years, opposition member Fabian Picardo has used his annual budget speech to call for additional social services staff to help cope with the workload.

“We have to realise that marital breakdowns are increasing and that there are more and more juvenile offenders,” he told the Chronicle.

“That means more reports than before, both for welfare cases and probation cases.

Employing more qualified staff is the only real answer.”

Divorces of Residents in Gibraltar 1996 - 2004

Year Divorces:

1996 79
1997 96
1998 117
1999 89
2000 96
2001 129
2002 150
2003 159
2004 119

Source: Supreme Court, as published in government statistics.

Civil Legal Assistance Paid to Law Firms and Barristers

Law Firm/Barrister 2003-04 2004-05:

A MacDonald : 23,969.80
A Nicol QC : £1,500
Attias & Levy : £14,557.00 £4,114.93
C A Gomez & Co £21,299.22 £46,599.73
E C Ellul & Co : £38,845.71
David Pannick QC : £63,000.00
Gold Law : £1,784.50 £18,478.04
Hassans : £31,166.11 £136,236.71
HLB Perez/Rodriguez : £94,202.67 £29,623.60
Hodgson Bilton : £70,225.51
Isola & Isola : £672.84 £69,584.58
J Leighton Williams : £5,000.00
J Evans : £123,583.95 £120,757.72
Marrache & Co : £3,731.60 £91,964.43
Matthias Kelly QC : £14,085.00
Phillips & Co : £255,791.38
Radcliffes le Brasseur : £15,145.47
Ray Pilley : £156,987.25 £12,623.29
S Bullock & Co : £5,648.80 £9,829.00
S R Bossino : £9,737.70 £9,992.16
Triay & Triay : £19,192.07 £110,361.38

Total: £905,811.07 £724,481.08


From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

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Trilateral Process a ‘great achievement’ – Holliday

Whilst stressing Government’s political vigilance in the current process of talks involving Gibraltar, Britain and Spain, Joe Holliday, Deputy Chief Minister, has declared his ‘great confidence’ in Chief Minister Peter Caruana’s handling of the tripartite process.

And the GSLP/Liberals opposition stands accused of “political dishonesty” over its stand on the trilateral forum and airport talks.

Mr Holliday said that the Opposition had tried to confuse and worry the community and he suggested that he has evidence that, when in government, GSLP party would have been happy to participate in tri-partite talks and agree use of the airport. All, he said, would be “revealed in due course”.

A dinner session of the Casino Calpe was told on Thursday night that Gibraltar should seize the economic opportunities that Government expects this process to create for Gibraltar and the region.

Trilaterals

A clear message from Mr Holliday was his support for the trilateral forum and its goals.

He repeated the news that local companies and a joint venture with Spain are looking to the re-establishment of the ferry with Algeciras and he reported that as a result of the Los Barrios process for local co-operation there has been productive and the November should see a meeting of a joint working group to establish joint-antipollution measures for the Bay.

The ferry will, he says, require the go ahead from the ministerial trilateral expected “shortly” but he said the logistics of implementation are already being looked at at local level.

In his address Mr Holliday emphasised that although Gibraltar Government is working for the development of regional co-operation “there is no way we will be absorbed as a municipality of the Mancomunidad del Campo.”

He equally stressed, in answer to questions, that Government had its eyes open as to the Britain - Spain relationship and was ‘suspicious’ of this in the sense of being alert to Gibraltar’s interests. “I have great confidence in Peter Caruana,” he said arguing that Gibraltar will be “pleasantly surprised” when the details form the trilateral process emerge. The trilateral process, he said, is a “great achievement” having met all the conditions the GSD (Gibraltar Social Democrats) had set out.

On the airport he said that Government is determined to get the maximum benefit but at the same time “the red lines will not be put at risk”.

Merry Group

The audience of leading businessmen was also told by Mr Holliday that, with regards to the GSD merger with Labour and the resignation of members such as Keith Azopardi, he would not comment on this but, having in fact voted in favour of the merger, he had accepted the collective decision of the party to see Daniel Feetham and “his merry group of men” join them.

Job Permits

Mr Holliday has also revealed that Government is to ease the access to the local work market for new EU members in sectors where Gibraltarians and other EU nationals fail to meet the demand of employers, the catering and hotel trades in particular.

On the domestic front Mr Holliday had set out how government was meeting its pledge on affordable housing but he rejected suggestions from the floor that the new houses should have had money Government receives from developers calculated in reducing the cost to buyers. He suggested that this may happen on the basis of the way on which these houses are sold and that allocation would be by government itself.

e-Business

Mr Holliday declared that e-business is being focused on and e-government, which means people avoiding queues by being able to conduct much of the business with government on-line, is being worked on and could lead to such things as people booking the MOT on line.

He noted that some businesses, having identified the right product, were now doing very well in e-business.

“Tourism is a success story as far as Government is concerned,” he said announcing that the much put off re-development of Europe Point is imminent.

Shipping was also described as another success story and he said that the 300 unemployed meant Gibraltar has full employment in economic terms. He said that these were either people who did not really want to work or found it difficult to or did not want to find a job.

On providing jobs to new EU member state nations he made clear that the jobs would be well advertised first before being opened to them.

On town planning Mr Holliday reported that although many people talk about new developments few people take the opportunity to formally raise the issue with the planning authorities.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

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Telegraph pays tribute to Chronicle scoop

The Daily Telegraph, Britain’s best selling quality daily, has highlighted the role the Gibraltar Chronicle played in reporting Lord Nelson’s famous victory at Trafalgar.


In a two page special a facsimile of the original is reproduced and the story told of how news broke.

“News of the battle and Lord Nelson’s death was slow in reaching London - so slow that the Gibraltar Chronicle, an English newspaper founded in 1801 and still going strong, scooped its British rivals, including The Times, by a full two weeks.”

It tells also how Vice Adml Collingwood had sent his dispatch aboard a schooner named Pickle which arrived at 1am on Nov 6. The Globe, a London evening paper, was able to break the news on that day and, unlike most newspapers of its time, ran a headline and news story before the official dispatch. It followed its headline:

“Destruction of the combined French and Spanish fleet and death of Lord Nelson” with three exclamation marks. The paper reported:

“We stated, some days since, that Government were in daily expectation of important news from our fleet, off Cadiz.

It has, at length, arrived, and glorious indeed it is, as it announces the DESTRUCTION of the COMBINED fleet in Cadiz harbour; but most lamentable, as announcing the DEATH OF THE GREAT LORD NELSON.

News at once so glorious and so melancholy diffused itself through the town, with astonishing velocity. The intelligence was brought home by the Pickle schooner, [captained by] Lt Lapenotiere, who arrived at one o’clock this morning at the Admiralty Office.”

Morning papers carried the news on Nov 7, mostly printing Collingwood’s dispatch in full. The Morning Post, the predecessor to The Daily Telegraph, ran the dispatch over three columns, without any preamble. It also printed in full the Admiralty bulletin announcing the news, which said of Nelson’s death:

“Lord Nelson’s ship being closely engaged with the Santisima Trinidad, and others of the enemy’s ships, a musket shot fired from the top wounded his Lordship, and deprived him of his most valuable life.”

The Morning Chronicle ran the dispatch from Collingwood before its own editorial comment. Its comment read:

“The feeling with which the intelligence of the triumph and death of Lord Nelson was received by the British people did honour to their character.

Not a man who would not have given up his life to achieve such a victory. Not a man who would not have surrendered every part of that victory, (except the honour of Britain), to save the life of Lord Nelson.”

The Observer, the only Sunday newspaper of its time, had to wait until Nov 10 to report the news. The previous week, on Nov 3, almost two weeks after the battle, it could only report:

“We are still without intelligence of the nature or consequences of the battle which is stated to have been fought on the 19th; and we are assured that Government is similarly circumstanced.”

The following week, after the news had finally arrived in London, the newspaper announced the circumstances of Nelson’s death in considerable detail. It reported:

“The ball which deprived the country of one of its proudest ornaments, the ever to be lamented Nelson, entered his shoulder, carrying away part of the epaulet and penetrated into his left breast, the excess of internal bleeding occasioned suffocation.

His body, which is preserved in spirits, is, we understand, coming home on board the Entreprenante cutter, and is to lie in state.”

Related Links:

The Gibraltar Government website provides a number of .pdf files detailing the full programme of events. These can be found here

21 October 2005 - Spain, Britain and France mark Trafalgar Bicentenary

BBC Best Links - News - Trafalgar 200
Coverage of all the events marking the anniversary, with articles about the history of the battle itself .

200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar

SeaBritain 2005

The Battle of Trafalgar at Amazon.co.uk

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

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Gibraltar loses out on Med Presidency to France

* Poggio Re-elected Vice-President * by Alice Mascarenhas


Albert Poggio was re-elected Senior Vice President for another three-year term of office at MedCruise General Assembly.

15 countries presented their candidature for the election to the office of Senior Vice President; Gibraltar was elected unanimously. But Gibraltar which was also in the running for the presidency of the association lost out to France. The assembly was held in Limassol, Cyprus. MedCruise is the association of Mediterranean ports which has 64 port members across 17 countries.

Commenting on not achieving the presidency Mr Poggio speaking from Cyprus said that there had no doubt been some tactical voting preventing Gibraltar from succeeding. But he added in the second round of voting for the Senior Vice Presidency Gibraltar was one of 15 countries competing the vote for him to remain in the chair had been unanimous.

Mr Poggio said he was pleased to be re-elected as it placed Gibraltar at the very top of the cruising industry the potential of which was increasing each here.
“We will again be at the forefront,” he said.

Meanwhile the next MedCruise Assembly will be held in Gibraltar next year. Chief Executive of the Gibraltar Tourist Board (GTB) Peter Canessa delivered a presentation in Cyprus on Gibraltar.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

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Hassans set up Vioxx legal claims team

Local legal firm Hassans has set up a specialist team of lawyers to advise on possible cases of people affected negatively by a pain relief drug.

In a landmark decision, on 19 August 2005 a jury in Texas, USA awarded a $253.4m (approximately £141m) settlement to the widow of a US man who died after using a drug designed to provide relief from the debilitating and painful effects of arthritis.

Hassans said it had issued a press release to highlight the fact that the case could have implications for what appears to be large number of Gibraltarians who have taken the drug, better known locally by its generic name, ROFECOXIB.

The US court found Merck, a multi-billion dollar US pharmaceutical company, negligent as a result of its manufacture of Vioxx which had contributed to the death of 59-year-old Robert Ernst, in the first of what could be as many as 4,200 similar lawsuits worldwide.

The drug is reported to have been taken by about 20m people worldwide from 1999 until September 2004, including many people from Gibraltar. It was apparently promoted as being a safe painkiller without any of the side effects such as stomach problems associated with aspirin and similar drugs. Although prescribed mainly to arthritis sufferers, it will also be familiar to other patients suffering from sporting and other injuries. US government research has however estimated that as many as 27,785 heart attacks or deaths may have been caused by the drug.

Following the judgment Mr Ernst’s widow Carol said she was only seeking the truth in her long fight for justice. “This has been a long road for me. But I felt strongly that this was the road I needed to take so other families wouldn’t suffer the same pain I felt at the time,” she told reporters.

Throughout, Merck have denied liability and initially vowed to appeal the decision although they have since indicated that it would consider settling some cases on an amicable basis.

In the meantime Hassans say that rofecoxib appears to have been widely used within Gibraltar and Ian Winch, a lawyer who is a specialist in class actions against pharmaceutical companies at Hassans, is working on this issue with Gillian Guzman and believes that this is already causing concern to some in the community. Mr. Winch highlighted the importance for those people who may have been affected to take expert legal advice.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

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Opposition quiz Government on renting at home ownership estates

GSLP/Liberals has expressed concern regarding the alleged renting out of flats at Harbour Views after receiving representations from tenants.

The matter has come to light following the fire in a flat at the estate this week.

An Opposition spokesman for Housing said:

"The tenants feel that the Home Ownership Scheme was launched with the condition that it was for owner occupation and not to be used as rented accommodation, to protect the public interest, given that this estate was intended to encourage home ownership, and also the interests of owner occupiers given the complications that arise sometimes when there is a mixture of rented accommodation and home ownership in the same estate.

The matter has already been raised in the House of Assembly. At first, Government claimed to have no knowledge that this was going on, and subsequently admitted the Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) was renting apartments in co-ownership estates but claimed that it was a matter for the person who owned the flat and was renting it and not for the GHA that was providing the tenant.

This is unacceptable. The GHA should not be encouraging a practice which goes against Government policy since the policy has not changed. We cannot see how existing tenants in Harbour Views and other estates can be made to observe the condition in the Head Lease and not rent out, when the Government itself condones this practice and the reason given in the House for the failure to act has been that the GHA might have to pay higher rent if they rented from landlords in the private sector owning private property as an investment.

Should public money be invested in encouraging home ownership and then those purchasing be permitted to use the property as an investment in order to provide rented accommodation? This appears to defeat the purpose of the original policy of providing free land for home ownership estates and 50/50 start-ups and presumably could lead to private landlords saying that they should also be subsidized to provide rented accommodation if they are going to be competing for tenants with property owners in home ownership estates.

This appears to be a far from isolated case. By condoning this practice and not enforcing the requirements of the Head Lease, or alternatively coming clean and removing the condition from the Head Lease so that people know where they stand, the Government is failing to conduct its affairs properly in this important area of public policy."

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Related Article:

17 October 2005 - Government’s GHA rental dilemma

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Underground Night Club out-of-bounds to Military

During a press visit to HMS Exeter to watch the ceremonial ringing of 8 bells for the commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, a notice was displayed beside the gangway warning sailors not to enter the Underground nightclub.

Commander Operations from British Forces Gibraltar, Commander Jock Gordon explains the reason behind this warning:

“The Underground night club is and will remain out of bounds to military personnel.

The Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) raided the night-club in January this year. Several people were arrested and convictions were made on drugs related offences.

Only last week members of HMS Exeter’s ship’s company were assaulted by a group of men wielding baseball bats in the area of the Underground night-club.

Placing areas out of bounds is standard military procedure around the world to ensure that military personnel who don’t know the area are not put at risk.

In response to the indication on the notice that local authorities are aware of the use of drugs, this was a misinterpretation from a verbal brief given to the ship by members of the Joint Provost and Security Unit. The notice was therefore incorrect and has been replaced.

British Forces Gibraltar would like to state categorically that they are completely satisfied with the local authorities’ position on this issue. Indeed the January raids are testament to the pro-active and zero-tolerance policy that local authorities are taking.

British Forces Gibraltar would therefore like to apologise for any offence caused but remains firm in their decision to keep the Underground night-club out of bounds.”

From GibNews.net Online News Resource

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South District action committee formed

Residents of the south district have formed a committee to raise and highlight serious concerns regarding the proposed massive new development at Rosia tanks.

As reported in GibNews.net, the Committee say this construction is planned in an area already highly congested and sensitive from a heritage perspective.

The meeting was well attended and representative of a wide catchment area.

A second meeting is now planned for Monday 24th October at 9.00pm at the Rosia Dale clubhouse. Everyone concerned about this matter who wish to lend their support are invited to attend.

From GibNews.net Online News Resource

Related Article:

18 October 2005 - Keep prices of new housing “within financial reach of ordinary local buyers,” says Action for Housing

13 October 2005 - Government announces another 900 more ‘affordable homes’

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