Claims Process - request more information

Claims process:

I thought it best to post this here - as a few people have been asking  and I can signpost them to this blog and add more information as required: 


Collective actions – where multiple claimants with claims sharing common characteristics seek a remedy against the same defendant or multiple defendants  


CFA

A CFA's is defined as  ' an agreement with a person providing litigation or advocacy services with provides for his fees and expenses, or any part of  them, to be payable only in specified circumstances' 

DBA

DBA's are a form of no win no fee arrangement. If the claimant wins then the legal representative is a percentage of the damages recovered. if the claimant is unsuccessful, then no payment of fees is sought. A DBA must be in writing (a contract) and generally must not require payment by the client for anything other than the contingency fee and or any expenses, net amounts recoverable from another party. This contingency fee must not exceed 50% of the sums ultimately recovered by the client at first instance.

(Claire this is what has been offered).

Public funding in the form of civil legal aid is limited to a narrow category of cases in the UK and is subject to strict qualification requirements. Therefore, it is unlikely to be available for many collective actions.

Crowd funding is used more and more  and worth considering.

The Court has the discretion to award a party its costs, typically on the "loser pays" principle.  

Contract

A voluntary, deliberate, and legally binding agreement between two or more competent parties - Existence of a contractual relationship does not necessarily mean the contract is enforceable, or that it is not void.

'Voluntary and two people are key here Claire you can not force or imply a contract has been agreed by just stating it. ' Confidentiality agreements work the same way'.

Copyright

What is Fair dealing?

Certain exceptions only apply if the use of the work is a ‘fair dealing’. For example, the exceptions relating to research and private study, criticism or review, or news reporting.

‘Fair dealing’ is a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. There is no statutory definition of fair dealing - it will always be a matter of fact, degree and impression in each case. The question to be asked is: how would a fair-minded and honest person have dealt with the work?

Factors that have been identified by the courts as relevant in determining whether a particular dealing with a work is fair include:

• does using the work affect the market for the original work? If a use of a work acts as a substitute for it, causing the owner to lose revenue, then it is not likely to be fair
• is the amount of the work taken reasonable and appropriate? Was it necessary to use the amount that was taken? Usually only part of a work may be used

The relative importance of any one factor will vary according to the case in hand and the type of dealing in question.

We so often see this thrown at individuals ' copyright breach!' if you copy an image or an image is included in a picture then you need to apply the above. You may or may not need to provide sufficient acknowledgement. Critique is allowed. 

Su