Legal Articles and Guides
The damages claim of a seven-year-old boy who developed cerebral palsy after state medical staff at the Mowbray Maternity Hospital failed to diagnose that he had jaundice at birth, is set to be finalised, according to a Weekend Argus report. It notes the Western Cape High Court has handed down a judgment in which it determined the boy"s life expectancy and found his expected age of death was 55. The parties" lawyers and the Centre for Child Law spent 45 days thrashing out the issues before Judge Owen Rogers.
The Western Cape High Court has dismissed an application to stop a forensic report the state believes would confirm that a Parow pastor ran an illicit multi-million Ponzi scheme promising people high returns on investments. A Cape Times report says the legal team representing Colin Davids, of New Direction Grace Church, was objecting to an Ernst & Young forensic report being handed in as part of the state’s evidence.
The Constitutional Court has reminded the Pretoria Society of Advocates of its duty to both the public and the courts to take appropriate steps to stop a struck-off advocate from continuing to practise, notes Daily News. It made the comment in a unanimous judgment handed down yesterday (Thursday) in the case of Ralph Patrick Ndleve, who had approached the court for a fifth time " his first four applications had been dismissed " in a bid to have his striking-off for malpractice and theft set aside.
Dr Lulamile Jam Jam is being sued for R5.7m for allegedly misdiagnosing a disorder and prescribing medication which caused skin damage, says a Daily Dispatch report. The doctor does not deny giving Ziyanda Qubu the medication, but said she had used the medication before so he did not need to inform her of its side effects.
Former City Press photo editor Denvor De Wee is at odds with his lawyer over whether he entered into a settlement agreement with Media24 and former City Press editor Ferial Haffajee in his racism defamation court case. The dispute between Media24, Haffajee and four former staffers " who alleged she defamed them by calling them racists " was headed for court last week before Media24"s attorney Andrew Boerner said the case had been settled, which was confirmed by the staffers" attorney Etienne van der Merwe, notes a BDlive report.
The Minister of Defence will have to pay damages for the failure of military doctors to diagnose the 13-year-old son of a firefighter with swine flu, the Western Cape High Court has ruled. Torrian Marthinus, now 20, was left untreated for almost a week in August 2009 and developed meningitis " which led to seizures that affected his academic performance. The amount of damages to be paid has not been decided, notes a Weekend Argus report.
SARS paid financial services firm KPMG R23m to investigate allegations of irregularity and misconduct involving the so-called "rogue unit" established to investigate tax evasion, says a BDlive report. This was in addition to the R332 177 spent to finance the work of the Kanyane committee and the R3m paid to the Sikhakhane Panel, both of which were mandated to investigate allegations against former SARS employee Johann van Loggerenberg, who was involved with the unit.
The financially strained Road Accident Fund (RAF) says it has identified bogus claims to the value of R126m made between April and June, notes a Business Day report. The fund said the claims were detected before they were paid out. Of the 108 bogus claims detected, 100 were claims represented by attorneys. The RAF has been beset by financial difficulty and has a provision of R145bn for claims it has yet to pay. It is seeking additional funding from the Treasury to help it meet its obligations.
A last-minute scramble by the Eastern Cape Health Department to settle a medical negligence lawsuit worth R23m has saved 20 of their vehicles meant to be auctioned next week, says a Daily Dispatch report. A provincial health spokesperson confirmed they had last week paid R23m to Johannesburg-based lawyer Zuko Nonxuba after he successfully sued them for medical negligence.
Former rugby star Joost van der Westhuizen has launched an urgent court bid against the Attorneys" Fidelity Fund to recoup money he says is due to him from Klinkenberg Inc, according to Rapport. Attorney Robert Klinkenberg committed suicide in December 2015 and a curator appointed by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces found a deficit of millions of rands in the trust account.
Wimpie Barnard " a financial adviser on whose advice pensioner Elizabeth Fourie invested R530 000 into two property syndication schemes promoted and marketed by Sharemax " has been ordered to repay Fourie the money she invested, says a report in Business Report.
The KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) has found that when disbarred Durban attorney Ian Stokes used R5.7m of his clients’ funds, he had the necessary intention to steal the money, says a report in The Mercury. Stokes was convicted of the charge of ‘theft by general deficiency’ of the amount. The theft took place between June 1998 and October 2000 while he was running a law firm and a separate business dealing in RAF claims in Durban. Judge Esther Steyn extended his bail conditions until October when evidence on pre-sentencing would be led.
A Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) application has exposed how the chairperson of a R12bn pension fund irregularly obtained a home loan, secured by the fund, to buy a Mercedes-Benz and to pay off his tax bill, says a City Press report. Despite being accused of contravening section 19(5) of the Pension Funds Act, Ron Field remains in his post as chair of the National Fund for Municipal Workers – a fund that holds the pensions of 43 000 municipal workers. However, notes the report, the fund has defended its decision to keep its chair on the board, saying although his behaviour was not ‘squeaky clean’, it wasn’t criminal.
A significant media victory was scored by Carte Blanche when it gained access to the taxation of an attorney-client bill of costs in the Palace of Justice in Pretoria. Last week Ronald Bobroff & Partners (RBP) sought to claim R2.1m in fees from its client, road accident victim Etienne Rubbers. RBP was placed under curatorship when two of its three directors, Ronald and Darren Bobroff, fled the country for Australia in mid-March as fugitives from justice. Cora van der Merwe, a cost consultant retained by Rubbers, alleged that R1.9m stood to be taxed off.
A Durban nurse says she is still battling to be compensated properly after she contracted HIV 13 years ago from a needle stick injury to her left thumb while attending to a patient at the private hospital where she worked, says a report in The Mercury. The nurse claims the hospital’s insurer, the Compensation Fund, deemed that she was only 15% disabled, and paid her accordingly, and is now rejecting her appeals to reconsider because of her declining health and inability to work.
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