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Scotland in UNISON
December 2008 No 76

Edinburgh home help takes equal pay lawyer to court

UPDATE: Members wins case

Home Help Jacqueline Quinn is taking equal pay lawyer Stefan Cross to court after he charged her £500 for taking her case to another lawyer.

Newcastle based Cross shot to prominence by persuading thousands of local authority workers to let him pursue their equal pay claims, rather than rely on their trade unions.

Jacqueline, who works for Edinburgh City Council, said: “I thought Mr Cross would get me a quick settlement of my equal pay claim, but I didn’t realise there was a horrific penalty clause in the contract.

“The clause says that if I end the agreement or change lawyers before the case is settled I have to pay him £500 for every six months I was on his books…and if I go on to win the case I still have to pay him 100% of his costs on top of the £500. But that’s not all. If I accept an offer to settle the case, he still gets 10% of my compensation.

UNISON’s Scottish Organiser Glyn Hawker said: “Stefan Cross portrays himself as the people’s champion but we’ve been warning our members for years that it will cost them if they instruct him.

“If he persuades a couple of thousand council workers to sign up with him, he only has to win one case, and the local authority will end up paying all the outstanding claims and he gets 10% of all their compensation. That’s a huge return.”

Syd Smith, Senior Partner with Thompsons Solicitors in Scotland who represent UNISON said: “We believe Mr Cross is wrong on three points of law. Solicitors in Scotland cannot charge flat rate contingency fees... they cannot take a percentage cut from a person’s money no matter what work was done.

“If we wanted to make a charge in these circumstances we would have to submit a detailed bill for all the work we had done. He cannot put penalties into these contracts.

“Mr Cross must also know perfectly well that he cannot go to an English County Court to try and enforce a contract he signed with a Scottish client in Scotland.

“That’s why we are seeking an interdict to stop his threats of action against Mrs Quinn.”

 

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