Yesterday was my birthday but I had a case in Court which is fixed for continued trial. It is fixed at 10.30am. Last week, I gave my opponent an increased offer based on my client's mandate. My opponent did mention earlier that she was expecting an X amount of ringgit to settle the matter. It was rejected at 5pm on Friday evening. That means, I have to be present in Court yesterday to conduct the continued trial.
Nevermind. I was all ready for it. Did my homework and poured over the documents again and again to prepare myself for the courtroom battle.
I arrived at 10am. My client was in Court. All ready to testify. The claimant was also there and so was my opponent.
"Case will be postponed again" says my opponent. "What the??". "Court got other priority cases which were filed in 1999 and 2001. Ours was filed in 2004, so, we have to take another date" my opponent continued.
If the Court has no intention of hearing us in the first place, they should have the decency to call us lawyers and tell us about it so that we need not waste our time as well as our client's time. Mind you, my client is in his late 70s and came in a wheel-chair. His son had to take leave and fly all the way from the East Coast to bring him to court.
This is not uncommon practise, of course. It happens regularly. And I had to try to explain to my client why his case is postponed again (4th time) and that he has to come again, in his wheelchair with his son taking another day off.
On the other side, the Judiciary has issued press statements saying that lawyers are the reason for postponement of cases which resulted in many cases being dragged for years.
Usually, when a case is being postponed at the instance of the lawyer, more often than not, both sides to the litigation have already agreed to the same and has no problems in postponing their case. They were prepared to have their case delayed. The litigants are not complaining.
But when you get cases where it takes more than 2 months to seal a summons (that means, to affix a Court seal onto a Summons to give it effect) upon filing the same or having your file not listed in the list of cases fixed for the day (which results in you having to write in to Court asking for the file to be fixed with a new date - which can take a couple of months) etc, who is willing to take the blame?
Anyway, to conclude my day at the Court, I left at 11am and headed home (I was actually on leave). Cooked this plate of bee hoon to destress and spent time with wife and kids.
Always look on the bright side of life.
I could have been spending the whole day in Court instead.
Nevermind. I was all ready for it. Did my homework and poured over the documents again and again to prepare myself for the courtroom battle.
I arrived at 10am. My client was in Court. All ready to testify. The claimant was also there and so was my opponent.
"Case will be postponed again" says my opponent. "What the??". "Court got other priority cases which were filed in 1999 and 2001. Ours was filed in 2004, so, we have to take another date" my opponent continued.
If the Court has no intention of hearing us in the first place, they should have the decency to call us lawyers and tell us about it so that we need not waste our time as well as our client's time. Mind you, my client is in his late 70s and came in a wheel-chair. His son had to take leave and fly all the way from the East Coast to bring him to court.
This is not uncommon practise, of course. It happens regularly. And I had to try to explain to my client why his case is postponed again (4th time) and that he has to come again, in his wheelchair with his son taking another day off.
On the other side, the Judiciary has issued press statements saying that lawyers are the reason for postponement of cases which resulted in many cases being dragged for years.
Usually, when a case is being postponed at the instance of the lawyer, more often than not, both sides to the litigation have already agreed to the same and has no problems in postponing their case. They were prepared to have their case delayed. The litigants are not complaining.
But when you get cases where it takes more than 2 months to seal a summons (that means, to affix a Court seal onto a Summons to give it effect) upon filing the same or having your file not listed in the list of cases fixed for the day (which results in you having to write in to Court asking for the file to be fixed with a new date - which can take a couple of months) etc, who is willing to take the blame?
Anyway, to conclude my day at the Court, I left at 11am and headed home (I was actually on leave). Cooked this plate of bee hoon to destress and spent time with wife and kids.
Always look on the bright side of life.
I could have been spending the whole day in Court instead.
