Please help with harassment claim & potential appeal against civil proceedings

[Nibber]

Re: If anyone could offer any advice on challenging the Police, asking for a further review etc that would also be helpful.

It's a sad fact that some officers do not fully understand the law, get confused and suffer with "it's a civil matter, so nothing to do with me" syndrome.

Were you given a crime number? If not, report it again. If you were you can ask for a progress report. Have a look here:

https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-after-crime


If that doesn't work, you could make a complaint to the Force concerned and their Police and Crime Commissioner - their contact details will be on their website. It might be worthwhile pointing out that the HMIC said back in 2017 that the use of PINs should stop immediately as they're pretty ineffective and have no basis in law.


I assume the refuge gave you some help and advice, but are you aware of:

https://www.victimsupport.org.uk

[des8]

I believe your claim for compensation should be made on a Form N1.,as per CPR part 7

Assessing the amount to be claimed is more difficult.but the general view is that the matter should be approached in the same way as for injury to feelings in discrimination cases.
The starting point would be as outlined in Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2002] EWCA Civ 1871. to which you refer

[Guest]

I believe your claim for compensation should be made on a Form N1.,as per CPR part 7

Assessing the amount to be claimed is more difficult.but the general view is that the matter should be approached in the same way as for injury to feelings in discrimination cases.
The starting point would be as outlined in Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2002] EWCA Civ 1871. to which you refer

des8

Thank you for that useful link and information.
What I can't seem to understand (sorry, a little dumb!) Is how the VENTO Guidelines and the case law you refer to can be applied to my case?!
There are some similarities, but the case involving VENTO involves discrimination in the workplace and loss of earnings. I have no claim for loss of earnings, just injury to feelings, belongings and potentially a illegal eviction claim ?
Sorry for more questions, I am a litigant in person with no knowledge of the law prior to this.

Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.

[2222]

des8

Thank you for that useful link and information.
What I can't seem to understand (sorry, a little dumb!) Is how the VENTO Guidelines and the case law you refer to can be applied to my case?!
There are some similarities, but the case involving VENTO involves discrimination in the workplace and loss of earnings. I have no claim for loss of earnings, just injury to feelings, belongings and potentially a illegal eviction claim ?
Sorry for more questions, I am a litigant in person with no knowledge of the law prior to this.

Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.

This bit of the Vento judgement (Sorry about the formatting):



Guidance



i) The top band should normally be between £15,000 and £25,000. Sums in this range should be awarded in the most serious cases, such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of discriminatory harassment on the ground of sex or race. This case falls within that band. Only in the most exceptional case should an award of compensation for injury to feelings exceed £25,000.

ii) The middle band of between £5,000 and £15,000 should be used for serious cases, which do not merit an award in the highest band.

iii) Awards of between £500 and £5,000 are appropriate for less serious cases, such as where the act of discrimination is an isolated or one off occurrence. In general, awards of less than £500 are to be avoided altogether, as they risk being regarded as so low as not to be a proper recognition of injury to feelings.

Employment Tribunals and those who practise in them might find it helpful if this Court were to identify three broad bands of compensation for injury to feelings, as distinct from compensation for psychiatric or similar personal injury.
There is, of course, within each band considerable flexibility, allowing tribunals to fix what is considered to be fair, reasonable and just compensation in the particular circumstances of the case.

The decision whether or not to award aggravated damages and, if so, in what amount must depend on the particular circumstances of the discrimination and on the way in which the complaint of discrimination has been handled.

Common sense requires that regard should also be had to the overall magnitude of the sum total of the awards of compensation for non-pecuniary loss made under the various headings of injury to feelings, psychiatric damage and aggravated damage. In particular, double recovery should be avoided by taking appropriate account of the overlap between the individual heads of damage. The extent of overlap will depend on the facts of each particular case.

[2222]

Have you tried finding a no win/no fee solicitor to handle the harassment claim?

If you want to handle that claim yourself, I suggest keeping the claim down, so it's more likely to be in the small claims track.

[Guest]

2222 That is so helpful, thank you massively. I understand the awards and how to quantify the amount if I decide to proceed with the claim myself now.
I am currently making a claim for exceptional case funding under the Legal Aid rules, getting my medical notes and researching harassment and how to make a complaint against the Police and ask for a review.

I have approached a couple of solicitors, but it appears that 'no win, no fee' is not available for a harassment or illegal eviction claim, it may be available for personal injury, but I've been informed that as there is no physical injury it would be difficult to prove psychological damage and it would be difficult to pursue.

It's so frustrating that as he didn't get to go one step further and actually assault me physically or sexually I am having hideous problems getting the justice I deserve. I guess I could consider myself lucky that I managed to escape those horrendous crimes, but it doesn't mean that his behaviour hasn't been abhorrent and illegal and I haven't suffered immensely.

[Guest]

When we came out of the court room last week, the Defendant stated that "he is not paying me" so would you recommend that I seek enforcement via his commanding officer (I've been reliably informed that they take the money out of his wages) and at the same time include evidence of his threatening behaviour and dishonesty, thereby breaching several elements of the Military code of conduct?

Also if I commence enforcement by the usual means, do I have to wait until the payment date on the order has passed or can I do so immediately?

Thank you

[Guest]

Re: If anyone could offer any advice on challenging the Police, asking for a further review etc that would also be helpful.

It's a sad fact that some officers do not fully understand the law, get confused and suffer with "it's a civil matter, so nothing to do with me" syndrome.

Were you given a crime number? If not, report it again. If you were you can ask for a progress report. Have a look here:

https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-after-crime


If that doesn't work, you could make a complaint to the Force concerned and their Police and Crime Commissioner - their contact details will be on their website. It might be worthwhile pointing out that the HMIC said back in 2017 that the use of PINs should stop immediately as they're pretty ineffective and have no basis in law.


I assume the refuge gave you some help and advice, but are you aware of:

https://www.victimsupport.org.uk

Thank you.
I was not given a crime number, but when I asked for confirmation of the harassment pin to be emailed, they did that. It contains the dare of issue and the name of the officer who issued it along with his police number

I also did a SAR and asked for my police reports. The amount of inaccuracies in them are outrageous.
For example, the report with the threat of sexual assault is wrong and the report relating to my belongings specifically states after looking at the photo's I provided is "the items appear to be of low value"
I find that this is a disgraceful comment. It is not for the police officer to determine the value of my property.
Included within those photos was a 39" flat screen smart TV - is that low value?
Surely criminal damage is criminal damage, it doesn't make any difference if the item\s are £10 or £1,000?

I think that I am increasingly convincing myself to be brave and make that complaint!

[Guest]

Have you tried finding a no win/no fee solicitor to handle the harassment claim?

If you want to handle that claim yourself, I suggest keeping the claim down, so it's more likely to be in the small claims track.

I might be wrong, or misinterpreted the information that I have read, but I understand that a harassment claim will never be on the small claims track?
Also I am unsure if I want to proceed on that route - for a few reasons.
First of all it is unlikely that the Defendant's WS would have ever been allowed or indeed his 'evidence' or any of his non compliant stuff on a different track as the rules are stricter?
(That's my understanding) As a litigant in person it was incredibly difficult, but I made absolutely sure that everything I supplied to the court was compliant and every deadline met.

If it goes into a different track, the deadlines will be strict and little allowance made for error or non compliance thus placing more pressure on the Defendant!

The other reason is that the Judge would not allow costs (I had £524 costs) and in a different track it is more likely that costs will be awarded?

[des8]

I think you are in correct assuming that a civil claim for harassment will not be allocated to the small claims track,
AFAIK it will almost certainly be fast tracked, which of course has costs implications.
Be aware that it is possible that he may instruct solicitors, and if you should lose you may have a costs order against you.
I appreciate you are certain of the righteousness of your case, but it may be advisable to have that confirmed by a solicitor.
Perhaps one of those you have spoken to has already done that.

[Guest]

I think you are in correct assuming that a civil claim for harassment will not be allocated to the small claims track,
AFAIK it will almost certainly be fast tracked, which of course has costs implications.
Be aware that it is possible that he may instruct solicitors, and if you should lose you may have a costs order against you.
I appreciate you are certain of the righteousness of your case, but it may be advisable to have that confirmed by a solicitor.
Perhaps one of those you have spoken to has already done that.

Thank you des8 Yes I have been trying to do that, but it's not been as straightforward as you might think. I have an awful lot of evidence including the police reports, the messages where he refers to me as "slut" or worse, threatening messages and the evidence of damage to my belongings as well as a conversation via Facebook/messenger with a third party who informed me of the videos and photos that he had posted of me so I am hopeful that losing won't be an issue!!

But to cover all avenues so to speak, I have today asked for my medical records to evidence the physical and psychological elements of my claim and made an application for exceptional case funding so fingers crossed!

[2222]

Peace, I'll give you the same advice as Des. Do not attempt a Fast Track case as a litigant in person. The risk of having a costs order made against you is just too great. That can happen even if you win!

Great if you get legal aid or a solicitor to help you, though.

[Guest]

These legal aid exceptional funding forms are an absolute nightmare!! Do I really have to send 6 month's bank statements for all of my accounts?? It's ridiculous.
Any help or tips would be welcome please!

[Guest]

Peace, I'll give you the same advice as Des. Do not attempt a Fast Track case as a litigant in person. The risk of having a costs order made against you is just too great. That can happen even if you win!

Great if you get legal aid or a solicitor to help you, though.

The civil court system in the UK is an absolute joke. How on earth could a costs order be justified in the event of a successful claim?

[des8]

The general rule is that costs follow the event ie that the successful party may recover its costs.
But the court has discretion to depart from the general rule, and make a different type of costs order having considered all the circumstances of the case. There is no requirement for exceptional circumstances for a different costs order to be made.


"These are an absolute nightmare!!" Agreed, but they are really aimed at professionals and there is nothing one can do about it!