LEGAL PROFESSION'S TREATMENT OF MR AND MRS HUFTON

EDM number 355 in 1991-92, proposed by Joseph Ashton on 09/12/1991.

That this House deplores the circumstances suffered by Mr and Mrs Hufton of 27 Festival Avenue, Harworth, near Doncaster, who were sent to Dean, Thomas solicitors of Worksop by the local Citizens' Advice Bureau, who were awarded ú3,000 compensation and costs against a builder Mr Roy Butler, who had built their house extension, only to see him promptly go bankrupt without paying a penny, then find that Dean, Thomas put the Huftons in court for the costs of ú922, plus interest; further notes that the Lord Chancellor refused to intervene when requested by the honourable Member for Bassetlaw, that the Solicitors' Complaints Bureau refused any investigation or support despite the fact that the Huftons had not been warned of the consequences or signed any agreement as to liability, that the Office of Fair Trading were powerless, and that the Worksop County Court on 21st November 1991 refused a request for adjournment until the Legal Service Ombudsman had finished his investigation; and concludes that this hasty greed of the legal profession is a travesty of justice, costing this innocent family over ú5,800 for nothing.

This motion has been signed by a total of 14 MPs.