Legal News
Nottingham Council Spent £200,000 on Chasing Up Payment from Schizophrenic Man (7 December 2011)
Date: 07/12/2011
A Nottingham council has been forced to meet the cost of a £200,000 legal bill following chasing up a schizophrenic man for the payment of a £1,909 debt. Gedling Borough Council initially forked out around £50,000 to pursue a bankruptcy order against pensioner Trevor Evans after he unsuccessfully kept up with the costs of his council tax payments, yet a district judge has ruled that Gedling Borough Council failed to realise that Mr. Evans had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and dementia. As a result, the judge has effectively reversed Mr. Evans’ bankruptcy order. This means that the council will be required to pay £70,000 worth of bankruptcy trustee costs, in addition to Mr. Evans' own legal costs that are estimated to amount to around £80,000. The total bill amounts to around £200,000, a considerably greater bill than that owed by Mr. Evans.
The council claims that their insurance will meet the cost of the case and that the taxpayer will remain unaffected. The council has announced that its insurance premium had increased but maintained that the amount by which it had increased was "negligible". A spokesperson for the council claimed that the council was unaware of Mr. Evans's mental health issues and claims that if it had been aware of his circumstances, it was unlikely that they would have instigated legal proceedings against him. The council has stated that it now has measures to prevent individuals known to be suffering from mental health issues experiencing similar problems.
Duncan Lewis’ mental health solicitors help to provide mental health legal services in the UK.