Swindling personal injury claim firm
The
personal injury claims firm Keddies Lawyers has been accused of charging too much for their services, an incident in which two of its lawyers in particular are being held responsible.
The two in question are barristers Tim Meaks and David Campbell. Meaks is already rebuked by the public for what has been described as “gross overcharging” which took place around two years previously.
Gu Xi Liang used to be a client of Keddies, and was requested to pay $250, 000 in legal fees as well as expenses, which also incorporated a sum of $40,000 for Mr. Campbell so he could work on the case which was said to involve a meeting in China four months prior to the claim being resolved in 2006 in Singapore. Mr. Gu revealed to Herald, "I never met David Campbell, the senior barrister, ever."
It was later found that Mr Gu as well as a number of other customers seemed to have been charged twice for both Campbell’s airfare and accommodation. This has resulted in a disagreement between Keddies and Campbell concerning who exactly paid for these expenses.
The barrister Goeffrey Watson was asked to examine Mr. Campbell’s bill in relation to Mr. Gu’s case, and later said: "Virtually every aspect of this fee note raises a question as to the propriety of the charging."
There was another bill in which Keddies had kept track of all Mr. Campbell’s charges, which was presented in relation to the Beijing builder’s laborer Wang Jin, in which there was found to be "potential gross overcharging" in a $185, 000 sum. The bill included a $34,000 charge for a China trip that also paid for a day’s meeting with Mr. Wang on October 31, 2005, as well as a number of other ones in China with Sydney-based doctors and Keddies's lawyers. During this time, described as a “10-day medico-legal trip” it was found that Mr. Campbell had talked with other individuals who had been injured in accidents in Australia, of whom were included Mr. Wang and his wife, one of 28 Keddies clients who were waiting to be seen.
Even though Mr. Meakes did not have a meeting with Mr. Wang on this trip, he was still requested to pay $14,300 for Meakes’ traveling expenses to and from Shanghai, as well as for conferences and a loading (which is supposed to make up for the time a solicitor is away from home.) Meakes was in China for four days, after which he decided to fly home for personal reasons. The overall amount he wanted from Mr. Wang, was $126,000, involving three days of his evidence taken on commission the following year in Singapore.
Even though the two barristers put forward bills for Wang’s case, bills for which the amalgamated amount was over $300,000, they did not receive their money. Keddies had submitted a bill of around $625,000, which contained the barrister’s payment as well as for the lawyers acting for QBE Insurance, who had settled Mr. Wang’s case for $150, 000.
The lawyers from QBE argued the amount down to a more acceptable amount of $95,000. A letter from the company’s three partners Russell Keddie, Tony Barakat and Scott Roulstone to the Herald decided that it would be a "gross misrepresentation … to conclude that merely because there was a commercial settlement of the costs dispute that the costs and disbursements were excessive in the first place".
Updated on 6/14/2008