Kenneth Makate’s ‘Please Call Me’ case has disintegrated into a clash between lawyers and the investors who financed his case, says a Mail & Guardian report. Raining Men Trade – the company nominated to enter into the contract with Makate – has filed papers for an urgent interdict to block Vodacom from paying Makate a cent. Alternatively, the company wants Vodacom to pay him no more than 50% of whatever amount is agreed to during the current settlement negotiations until it is reinstated and included in the settlement discussions. The directors of Raining Men Trade claim it was appointed as the legally nominated firm for the contract with Makate – and that this was done in line with his initial deal with the litigation-funding firm Sterling Rand, which picked up his case in 2013. The M&G report says at the heart of this new legal battle are Raining Men Trade’s claims that its own law firm – Stemela & Lubbe Inc – tried to hijack the deal by coercing Makate into cancelling his funding contract with them. Raining Men Trade and Chris Schoeman secured several investors to raise cash for the ‘Please Call Me’ case. Investors were each allocated between 4% and 5% of the final settlement and also carried the entire risk in the event that Makate lost the case. Schoeman – in an affidavit submitted for the urgent application – detailed how he had originally raised funding and how Raining Men Trade had put together a legal team headed by attorney Wilna Lubbe to handle Makate’s case. In the event that Makate won his case, the former Vodacom employee was due 60% of the settlement and the various investors, through Raining Men Trade, 40%. Their respective stakes were later slightly reduced to cover additional investors as the case dragged on. But Schoeman has now accused Lubbe of conspiring with another law firm to oust his company by creating a false cancellation agreement in a bid to get rid of two other investors.

Full Mail & Guardian report (subscription needed)

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