News

08/20/03 - about two months ago we were delighted to retain the service of the law firm of Ross Harper - delighted because we had "famous" attorney Cameron Fyfe taking on my brother's case. A couple of weeks after taking the case, Mr Fyfe went on a three week vacation. Before he left, he appointed the law firm of Drummond Miller as his Edinburgh agent. Upon hearing this news, my brother called Mr Fyfe to inform him that just six months prior, Drummond Miller had declared a "conflict of interest" with the RBS and could not act for my brother in this matter.

In Mr Fyfe's absence and with no consent from their client - my brother - Drummond Miller accepted a change in pleadings of the defence. Basically, Directline want to say that because my brother no longer owns the property, they cannot pay for a new building. The only reason my brother had to sell the land was because the RBS was trying to foreclose on him. The only reason they were trying to foreclose on him was because Directline would not pay their obligation! How convenient - this amounts to nothing more than extortionate LAND THEFT. This nonsense argument is a weak attempt to minimalise my brother's very serious claim against Directline. It in no way helps my brother's case and opens the door for the defence to argue from a position which allows them to say my brother's case is worthless. So the question arises, why would we agree to allow them to make this claim when we don't have to?  Why would a lawyer acting on my brother's behalf accept this? Needless to say, they are fired..........

In addition, Drummond Miller told my brother to accept a 10,000 pound settlement with a "gagging order" from Directline for his house which was totally destroyed by fire. They said he had "no case" against the insurer. Cameron Fyfe agreed. He's fired too.......

What this means is that your Directline Policy is worthless in the event of a major claim. Part of your premium is for total loss of your home. You will never be able to collect on this part of your policy and you will not find an attorney in Scotland (& probably the entire UK to actively sue Directline). Please protect yourselves. Folks, if you have Directline insurance and/or your mortgage is with the Royal Bank of Scotland, I strongly urge you to cancel your policy and/or bank account and diligently find alternatives. I cannot honestly recommend anyone other than General Accident and that is only because they did pay out on this claim in a timely and courteous manner.

Once again, we are lawyerless.... once again, the dim ray of hope for Justice within the Scottish Judicial system has gone out.

10/02/05 - It has now been 13 years and we finally have a court date for Stuart's case against Direct Line Insurance (now RBS Insurance Services Ltd) this November and we are trying to subpoena witnesses. We want to call top executives from RBS to answer our questions. Apparently they think they are above the law - only the Queen and Chief Justices are exempt from being called as a witness - but Sir Fred Goodwin, Sir Angus Grossart and Sir George Mathewson are claiming to be above the law too. They do not want to be held accountable for the actions of their companies. As Directors of the company they are responsible and they don't have the guts to face someone whose life they have destroyed. If I called them spineless charlatans I would be being very polite indeed.

10/25/05 - we are going ahead with a much reduced witness list and a correspondingly reduced amount of cash up front. Ironically, we have to put the money, in cash, into the court's RBS account! Yuk.....