est. 2007

Barbados Underground

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Poor Man’s Weapon – Name and Shame

The PM is a lawyer, the last two PMs were lawyers, the PM was Atty General, the present AG was AG in a previous Gov’t, the most senior Gov’t Minister who acts as deputy PM in the PM’s absence is a lawyer. Did any of the these ever suggest any changes in the relationship between…

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The PM is a lawyer, the last two PMs were lawyers, the PM was Atty General, the present AG was AG in a previous Gov’t, the most senior Gov’t Minister who acts as deputy PM in the PM’s absence is a lawyer. Did any of the these ever suggest any changes in the relationship between lawyer and client? Did they make it mandatory for lawyers handling civil cases to establish Trust Accounts to separate operating funds from client funds? When they hear/heard of improprieties did they take action?

They operate like some secret society ready to prey on the “great unwashed” who darkens their door. Even on the rare occasion that the Court find them guilty of stealing client funds no restitution order is made which enables them to live off the clients’ funds after they have served their sentence.

When Ms. Pile was on trial, the Court was packed with lawyers who were sympathetic to her and ready to deliver pre-sentencing statements on her behalf. They take care of their own – Sargeant

When the injustice meted out by Michael Carrington to a wheelchair bound septuagenarian broke, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart advised – then leader of our parliament – to secure the services of a lawyer. History will record this statement to be one of the most ignorant uttered by a prime minister of Barbados.

On Friday (4 October 2019) the president of the Barbados Bar Association (BBA) Rosalind Smith-Millar was quoted in the local media advising the beneficiary of Stephen Archer’s estate to seek legal representation in order to secure the 2.7 million in compensation BL&P paid to Archer’s lawyer reported to be Ernest Jackman. Ernest Jackman is no stranger to BU and is featured on BU LAWYERS in the NEWS.

The advice given by the Bar president reminds citizens why the the application of the law sometimes is said to defy common sense and as a result “Is the law an ass? remains a valid question. To reinforce the point the BU family recently discussed the legitimacy of Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith’s public assertion he cannot investigate the ICBL, Donville Inniss matter unless a member of the public files a complaint. There are many examples of BL&P and FLOW taking advantage of citizens and the regulatory bodies despite consumer protection laws are passive in defence of consumers.

The majority of lawyers licenced to practice law in Barbados had their education funded by taxpayers. It is said that Barbados has more practising lawyers per thousand than any other country in the world. The Barbados Bar Association and the Disciplinary Committee were established for a reason – to regulate the legal profession. We have had too many stories of lawyers misappropriating funds, stonewalling the release of documents, not meeting with clients to discuss matters, colluding with other lawyers to frustrate deals, not attending court sessions to permit matters to close etc etc etc.

Enough is enough!

We live in an era where John Public has access to various social media platforms. Yea yea yea it comes with all the warts, BUT, there is the good that it can do. Naming and shaming these ‘summabitches’ will ensure reputations are sullied, forever. If the bodies to regulate the professional class including lawyers fail to protect members of the public, they will have to suffer the consequences. It is clear the Barbados Bar Association and its sidekick the disciplinary Committee supported by the bevy of lawyers in parliament will not side with the public.

A couple years ago the blogmaster had an exchange with a former president of the Bar who expressed frustration at the lack of resources available to do a better job and the need for legislative teeth. The blogmaster is satisfied stakeholders have no interest in changing the existing arrangement. In fact it is reasonable to conclude the Bar is used by prominent lawyers as a pathway to secure QC status, that is all.

 

118 responses to “Poor Man’s Weapon – Name and Shame”

  1. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    .Sir Simple Simon stated

    ..but “yes” the insurance company will assess who was responsible. The determination was that he was 15% responsible? Why? None of us is ever supposed to stand behind a vehicle. If we do we have to expect to get hit. That’s the truth.

    Girl, what is wrong with you recently? First, the firm to which this man work would have to have an OHSP (Occupational Health and Safety Procedure) written in as a rule policy for all workers. Most construction sites have that along with accident and emergency insurance. If there was no OHSP, it is quite obvious that most construction workers would be standing in front, behind, at the side and even on the truck itself etc as part of the norm behaviour that is exhibited some of these sites. Secondly, most construction firms here in the EU as well as in the US, have signs posted behind their trucks on construction sites that state, ” Stand Clear” or ” Keep Clear,” with even a bit more information stated some times. A man standing behind a truck, where there were no clear OHSP policy caution signs behind the truck or a fundamental rule of the company stated to every employer to execute safe conduct at all times, cannot be part blame. The driver in the truck cannot be blamed either if there was no company policy that requires each driver to check before he moves off. The company at the centre of this mess are not to be blamed either if they had an OHSP written policy for safety and signs posted behind their trucks as part of their stringent safety policy on construction sites. If the company did not have that then the company is liable and must stand responsible for this accident no matter how caused.

    I have a friend, here, who cut his finger on the job. The firm did not cut his finger, he did. The firm has an OHSP in place but they know that even with that, things would happen. Yet, the firm paid all his medical expenses through its accident and emergency insurance. They paid him 90% of wages lost over the 5 months he was home while his private insurance paid the other 10%. So he got full salary for the 5 months he was away from work. That is standard. He went back for further for Occupational therapy for two sections per week for 6 weeks after going back to work for several months since the accident. Because it was an accident on the job, the firm’s insurance again will pay for it.e Again that is standard. Barbados is so messed up it seems like blood will have to be shed to change this shite happening there.

  2. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Simple…again…do your reseach before posting backward SHITE…that you want to see happen to your own people…instead of what is supposed to happen …due to REALITY…ya are regressing into the twilight zone and that is clearly being attributed to the bad mind ya hold for ya own people and not to truth and facts.

    It is a while now you have been doing this, making yaself part of the problem that is causing ya own people to have their human rights violated on a daily basis…it is twisted and counterproductive.

    Check yaself..

  3. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    Oh dear. I don’t know what to say when adults need to be told not to stand behind a truck.

    Next thing we know we will have to tell adults not to cross the road if a vehicle is coming at 80 kilometres per hour.

    I done.

    I can’t reason with unreason.

  4. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @WURA-WAR-on-UOctober 8, 2019 1:25 PM “Simple…you have obviously never had a serious injury…and was never exposed to doctors who feel surgery is the first and only option.”

    True. I am blessed that I have never had a serious injury. I always look both ways, twice, before I cross the road. When I drive in the great white north, i am always mindful that those folks drive on the “wrong” side of the road, so I am extra, extra careful. I check myself real real careful too when crossing the roads up north.

    No surgeries, except I had my gall bladder removed when I was in my 60’s. Real real glad to have got rid of the thing which had tormented me off and on since I was a child. The people at the QEH were very competent and very nice. I was in and out in less than 24 hours, and managing my household tasks in less than 48.

  5. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Sunshine Sunny ShineOctober 9, 2019 3:10 AM

    First, the firm to which this man work would have to have an OHSP (Occupational Health and Safety Procedure)
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    This is what I meant when I said that more information would be needed to assess whether or not the man was also negligent.

    Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time according to the OHSP manual? I have sat through a case where this was an issue. There were no written guidelines at the time and the worker prevailed. If there had been she probably would not have.

    Simple Simon,

    A large construction site is a dangerous place. Mistakes will happen if people are not made fully aware of the dangers. It should not be left to the “common sense ” of the workers.

  6. WURA-WAR-on-U Avatar
    WURA-WAR-on-U

    I think everyone is forgetting that this accident happened DURING A 15 MINUTE BREAK…when EVERYTHING was supposed to be stationary….no truck should have been started up let alone hitting a cement mixer to roll on the man…that was the first thing i heard on the video…If it’s a 15 minute break….again…nothing should be moving…and he was not standing behind the truck, if i remember he was standing IN FRONT of a cement mixer which was BEHIND THE TRUCK…if he was standing directly behid the truck he would have HEARD when it started up….see how yall already changed the damn story…steupppss…which means he got injured BY THE CEMENT MIXER….

    Simple…what you described is not the only way to get injured, many people get injured through no fault of their own, no one goes seeking out injury….because it is so closely aligned with DEATH.

    ..i notice when ya tell a bajan ya got injured, they automatically decide it’s your fault somehow, you did something to contribute, pure stupidity……people need to be trained in reasoning skills i think….and stop changing up stories to suit their agendas of seeing you not compensated…

  7. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    Sir SImple Simon

    I guess you have never stood behind your car. I guess you are always careful and alert. I guess each time you go on a boat, you wear your life jacket. I guess before seat belts were mandatory in Barbados, you were one of the few people wearing yours. I guess if you ever smoke in your life, you decided one day to read the surgeon general’s warning and stop smoke instantly. I guess you are one of the few people who plug out every appliance, including your fridge before you leave home. I guess you no longer fly in an aeroplane after the events of 911. My point, what we should not do, what frightens us for a moment, is the very thing we do, are the things we return too after the wave of fear has passed. And, even after accidents happen, we are not deterred to the point that we stop doing altogether. We are creatures of habit and adapters to what we considered to be the norms. I am sure that the man behind the truck was not the only one who has ever stood behind a truck on the job site. I am sure that it was not the first time he stood behind a truck either. If the accident never happened, standing behind a truck would never be seen as a pending danger because it is clear that there was never any warnings for his supervisors or even managers telling him not to do it. The seriousness of this matter is what was company policy in terms of occupational safety? Was there an orientation to safety measures and procedures? What does the in house safety procedure manual says with reference to what you must and must not do on a construction site? My friend when he cut his finger received all the benefits from his firm, his fault or not, it was an accident on the job, and regardless of how it occurred, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT ON THE JOB. There was no investigation regarding negligence. The company accepted that one of their employees got hurt on the job and they acted accordingly. Barbados Insurance companies operate base on bare shite. An accident happening on the job is an accident that has occurred on the job, full stop. Where there was no orientation to safety procedures on the job site, the company must immediately accept liability. The 15% or even 100% his fault bullshit, would only come into play if clear guidelines on safety procedures were breached by him. The company then would have a strong foot to stand on and can argue till the comes come home that he neglected to follow written guidelines for safety I am sure this might have been the first accident of its kind on this job site, and perhaps not the last. Testimony from other workers more than likely would attest, that others have stood behind trucks, and that no supervisor has ever warned them of doing so. If that is the case, the man injured is not negligent by 15%

  8. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    Waru

    I promised not to comment about anything you wrote but your above comment is profound. I did not listen to the video, perhaps I should. I am drawing inference from what others wrote. However, if he was not behind the truck but behind a cement mixer that was centimeters away from the truck that sheds light in a completely different way. That means, that the insurance company is usurping their power in this matter to paint a different picture of events. If he was at break, and behind a cement mixer, there is no negligence or lack of due diligence in this matter. The Insurance company are operating as the big eagle on a little fish. He can easily win this case if it goes to court. Kerry Symmonds reluctance to go to court is certainly a faux pas or deliberate act. The injured has a lot of grounds to stand on, Kerry Symmonds certainly has a lot to answer for regarding the stances he took.

  9. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    SSS…that is what happened, he was standing in front of a cement mixer that was behind the truck, which are also huge vehicles, the truck hit the cement mixer which then hit him and a colleague then pulled him from under the cement mixer which would have killed him otherwise…but some of those who watched the video or maybe even not cause they are known to not read posts but post shite anyway…so they switched the narrative so they can post shite and give the insurance company more ammunition to violate this man’s human rights.

    …some black people are BLACK PEOPLE’S BIGGEST AND WORSE ENEMIES.

  10. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Let’s see what Symmonds does now…that is what dirty lawyers do, twist the narrative to line their own pockets, when you watch the video you will hear that Symonds gave them a WHOLE DIFFERENT VERSION….initially ….then he switched the story to side with the insurance company…what he said on whatsapp…does not compare in any form or fashion with what he first told his injured client…pure wickedness.

  11. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    WURA,

    I watched the whole video. I did realize that he was standing behind the cement mixer and not the truck. I wondered though if he was supposed to be standing there, especially at that time and if the driver of the truck had been given the order to do something during the break. If so he would have been doing so under the impression that all was clear. It is quite possible there was a manual that said that workers should leave the work space while on break. This is why I say that more information would be needed to determine liability.

    Sunny Sunshine is correct that if orientation was not adequately done or if it was a norm not challenged by the foreman, even with a written manual the fault would lie with the employer.

    Best determined in the courts.

  12. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    Donna

    Most construction sites after breaks like to blow horns. The horn is not just the start of lunch/break or the ending of it, but a signal that alerts all workers that work is about to start again. Obviously, when that signal goes off, workers will remove themselves from whatever positions they were found to be in. I am of the opinion that safety on construction sites was not as beefed up as it should in the accident that took place with this man. There are too many factors in this case that tells you that the insurance company is operating ad hominem and trying to avoid a payout. The family should press to go to court and lay a complaint at the feet of the BAR Association/ Disciplinary Committee for disrespectful Kerry Symmonds- the wife beater if memory serves me correct.

  13. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    ” I wondered though if he was supposed to be standing there,”

    It was the standard 15 minute break when everything STOPS, all work halted…don’t know why the truck was moved without the driver CHECKING to make sure no one was standing near or leaning on the mixer or even the truck, during the break, it seems that he reversed and hit the mixer which injured the claimant, it is a very straight forward case, but these sell out lawyers and vicious insurance companies spend YEARS complicating simple cases, waiting for the claimant to die.

  14. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Sunny Sunshine,

    All insurance companies try to avoid a payout.

    Don’t recall hearing any horns in Barbados except while watching the Flintstones. Of course, that does not mean they aren’t used.

  15. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Donna…that case really should have gone to court but Symmonds obviously has his own agenda…now he has exposed himself…too many uppity lawyers in Barbados HATE taking instructions from their clients….but lawyers are SUPPOSED to take instructions…thing is these low crawling scum believe they are above that…and that is why this man is suffering, shithead symmonds is not working in his client’s best interest.

  16. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Ah bet ya they put in an insurance claim for the truck damaging the mixer and got a payout though…that is metal…but they will SUFFER the human hit by the mixer through no fault of his own.

  17. WURA-WAR-on-U Avatar
    WURA-WAR-on-U

    What can we say…THIEVES in the parliament….THIEVES in the bar..everyone gotta know them…

    https://www.facebook.com/jackie.stewart.965/videos/1135078060035065/?t=0

  18. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    Talk ya talk girl. I hearing that. Rogue Works said watch ma, I got this.

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