http://blog.um-gallery.net 

To: Dear Mr Robert Chow Young, HK2000, RTHK

Fm: P Cheng

Date: 12/7/2009

Subject: Champerty and Maintenance(包攬官司)

Dear Mr Robert Chow Young,

Re: champerty and maintenance(包攬官司)

In response to your opinions revealed in the phone-in program "HK2000" on July 10, 2009, we decided not to remain silent but disclose our practical yet bitter experience in the direct confrontation with the professional litigators who preyed on victims of lawsuit abuse in the last twenty years.

We did hold similar view as you when we were claimed for an incredible compensation worth half of the value of the premises where we run our business by a prominent law firm based on the false testimony and evidence from a so-called “copyright investigator” early in 1987. The case was ended up with a resigned and undesirable off-the-courtroom settlement which costed us all the profit made from lawful business activities in the first six months in view of the huge contingent litigation cost for a fight against the false allegation. However, even we kept ourselves alert and cautious in the following two decades, we were not totally immuned from lawsuit abuse. Once and again frivolous claims were made for unsound reasons. Both our direct experience and indirect information from other traders told us that lawsuit abuse is rampant but the true picture had never been uncovered for many reasons. Having spent quite a lot of time in the exploration of the issue, we began to realize that the legalization of champerty and maintenance is not a remedy to the problem but on the contrary make it worse for the following reasons:

1. If you are not a warrior, war is not the best mean for you to stop war. Accordingly, if you are not a professional litigator, lawsuit is not a viable way for you to curb frivolous lawsuit or false allegation.

2. Only lawyers can be the sure winner in any litigation. Even they lose the case, their clients are the ultimate payers who pay for the costly game. The more rampant is the lawsuit abuse, the more will be the business opportunities for the professional litigator, including unethical lawyers.

3. Capable lawyers are interested in big deals which are definitely more productive in terms of money reward and match their talent and status. In most of the cases, the victims of frivolous claim or false allegation can only turn to mediocre lawyers for the legal service they need. The consequence will be a disaster to be regretted more than a victory to be celebrated in a legal war for glory and justice over their evil rivals who are well prepared and organized.

4. Even in USA, which is always cited as the best example for the legalization of conditional payment, champerty and maintenance are still forbidden in some states for mixed reasons. With reference to all perceivable evidences, however, we can also easily conclude that the people residing in USA are suffering the most serious problem of lawsuit abuse among all countries where common law is practiced. More and more people have joined the ally calling for a law reform intended for the sanction against malicious and frivolous litigators.

5. In the absence of any effective statutory regulation over the professional litigators including unethical lawyers and their collaborating partners who may identify themselves as private detectives, credit management agents (debt collector) or personal injury consultants, the law against champerty and maintenance is almost the last legal means to curb their activities in Hong Kong. In countries like UK and USA, despite there are strict regulations and code of practice governing the activities of these litigators, false allegation or illegal collection of evidence is not uncommon.

Being a small enterprise and an experienced victim of lawsuit abuse, we were astonished when you disputed the verdict of the judge on champerty and maintenance and advocated the legalization of such activities. Forgive our frankness, your words exhibited your ignorance of the issue and the damages it had caused to SMEs and ordinary people. All formal public speakings, news report or commentary avoid telling the truth that unethical lawyers play a very key role in lawsuit abuse. It is rather simple and naive to think that lawsuit abuse will be reduced because the victim can fight back if champerty and maintenance are not banned. Based on our experience and information from other victims to which you may refer as our practical wisdom, we can be sure that every time when a victim is benefited from the release of the restriction, a lot more new victims will emerge for the reasons mentioned above. As a matter of fact, the judicial system of USA that you credited so much was blamed to be intellectually corrupted for the rampant lawsuit abuse by its own people.

In 2004, we confronted with a group of professional litigators including lawyers of two prominent law firm intending to trigger a monetary claim with the false testimony and evidence from a “private investigator” again. On account of the extremity of their behavior, we refused to pay a penny and denied all the ridiculous allegations. Then in the following two years, we got to know exactly what dirty tricks these professional litigators are using for destroying their target prey. Except endless threats from the lawyers claiming that they were representing the claimants, we were harassed by strangers in the form of illicit probing like pretexting, enticement or false declaration. The police finally intervened when we presented to them our multiplex security video recording with the assistance of a political party. The private investigator escaped for almost six months before he reported to the police again. Although the police in the end told us that they were unable to collect enough evidence beyond all reasonable doubts for putting this man on a criminal charge, harassments were basically stopped. Since then we started to disclose the illicit and malicious activities of these professional litigators on our blog (<http://blog.um-gallery.net>) and appeal to the government for proper action to tackle this “perfect combination of legal blackmail”. (See attachment for details). Meanwhile, we adopt the most defensive policy in running our business.

“Prevention is always better than cure”. We do not think that it is a good idea for ordinary people to fight against professional litigators in the courtroom. All these unreasonable claims based on unsound reasons or false evidences should be restrained at the very beginning. If the current legal system is to be blamed for the rampant lawsuit abuse, restriction to the champerty and maintenance is neither the cause nor the internal institutional defect accounting for the problem. You should query why our civil law system and the Law Society allow licensed lawyers make frivolous claims based on ridiculous reasons against logic, common sense or empirical experience. You should query why our government allows any body to claim himself a private investigator without any qualification certification process and collect evidence by illegal means which violates the code of investigation in all civilized countries. You should query why "legal claim specialists" are allowed to promote their services publicly without any sanction. We are so sure that if all these illicit activities are properly regulated, lawsuit abuse will be greatly reduced.

At last, we must declare that none of our members is law nonprofessional. We are just members of a small enterprise engaging in the business of premium production and printing. Our knowledge, whether you think correct or not, is attained through lengthy struggle against the litigator and self-study. We will be pleased to provide more detailed information if you or your colleagues think that it is necessary.

Best regards.

Yours faithfully,

S. Wong

For and on behalf of a small enterprise and all victims of lawsuit abuse

encl.