Doug Paulley
“litigious bolshy git”
http://legal.kingqueen.org.uk
I AM NOT A LAWYER
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Who am I?
• Disabled person; wheelchair user with hearing
impairment and mental health problems
• Live in a Leonard Cheshire residential care
home in Wetherby, North Yorkshire.
• An intellectual know-it-all with a passion for
peoples’ rights
• Taken 40+ cases in disability discrimination,
most without a lawyer.
Taking action
• Very few people take action for disability
discrimination (will explore why later)
• Very powerful when people do take action
• Some people can use lawyers, e.g. Unity Law
and Cloisters Chambers
• Some people can take action without a lawyer,
as a “Litigant in Person”
Litigant in Person
• The Government reckons the Small Claims
Track isn’t daunting
• It is, but it needn’t always be
• Of 35 cases I can remember: 22 settled, 3
ongoing, 2 withdrawn, 2 won at hearing, 2
dismissed.
• Taking action is usually a case of waiting and
form-filling, and negotiation
“DART”
• The “Disability Attitude Re-adjustment Tool”
• Totally non-professional guide, based upon my
own experiences and other people’s guidance
• Creative Commons rights – can be duplicated
• Available online as a .doc, .pdf or .mp3
• Hard copies can be ordered online (printed to
order, no money gets paid to me)
• Hard copies, USB sticks, CD, CD-Rom here
Benefits and Drawbacks
• It takes certain guts, ability or support, time,
energy and headspace to take a case
• It is great to force service providers to change
• It can be very effective.
• It can get very personal and unpleasant
• The money is an added bonus (I feel guilty!)
Publicity
• Consider publicity during a case, or after it has
finished
• Publicity during can draw popular support
• A non-disclosure agreement can be a useful
bargaining point
• Some people always accuse me of being in it
for the money or being unfair – they see
equality of treatment, not of outcome.
Barriers
• In 2009, the Department for Work and
Pensions said that the Small Claims system
would work for disabled people
• They claimed that judges and assessors will be
trained, and rejected tribunals
• There are very few cases taken for disability
discrimination in the provision of goods and
services, but nobody knows for definite
• Why?
Equality Act statistics
• “The Government will consider introducing
changes to the county court IT system when
there is an opportunity to do so. Until then,
courts will be asked to manually gather
information on DDA cases involving goods,
facilities and services.”
Barriers to taking cases yourself
•
•
•
•
Little guidance for people to use the courts
A complex process
Costs a lot, unless you are totally skint
Can be risky for other side’s costs (though
usually not)
• Low number of casesm so judges aren’t au fait
• Courts aren’t aware of assessors
• You risk proving the DWP right!
Barriers to Representation
• Few providers who can take cases
• Legal Aid effectively non-existent – last year
22 representation certificates applied for in
equality area, 4 were granted, and none of
those refused appealed
• Non-recoverability of after the event
insurance premium and failure to extend
QOCS
What to change?
• “In any event, relying upon individuals to bring
about systemic change through individual
litigation places a heavy burden upon disabled
people.”
• EHRC should take action through formal
enquiries, strategic cases and monitoring
enforcement
• Class actions – EHRC, trade unions, DPOs?
• Extend tribunals