In person: “The law on precautionary warrants should be amended because it is ripe for abuse”

This was sent in by a reader.

The law on precautionary warrants should be amended because it is ripe for abuse. Many precautionary warrants, such as those which made the news over the last few days, are done frivolously and abusively.

On 23rd December 2009, my two elder brothers were served with a precautionary warrant for €100,000 each, signed by Dr Jose Herrera and his associate. The warrants were issued at the behest of our youngest brother, but he included my name and our mother’s without our authority or knowledge.

I found out what happened only because I work at a bank, and as soon as the instruction went out to all bank branches to block my brothers’ accounts and hold the relevant sum, a colleague saw it and asked me why I had placed a garnishee order on my brothers.

Shocked beyond belief, I contacted the legal office at the bank where I work to state that my mother and I knew nothing about it, but they told me that those were the instructions they had received from the Courts.

I immediately contacted my younger brother, on whose instructions the warrant was issued. He told me that his lawyers had informed him that he could not leave my name and our mother’s out because otherwise the same kind of warrant would have been issued against us too.

I asked him for the phone numbers of both lawyers. Dr Herrera did not answer, but finally his associate did. I was furious, and told him that he should go to court there and then on Christmas Eve to withdraw the warrant, but my brother – his client – refused.

So I told Dr Herrera’s associate that he should meet me and at least erase my mother’s name and ours, because we never intended to open a lawsuit against our own flesh and blood. He did not want to meet me and left me waiting for an hour near the Advocates Chamber at the Law Courts. We had never met before then.

I asked him how he could possibly have done what he did without ever having met us or receiving our authorisation. He answered that my brother then wanted it only against the elder brothers so that is why he included us with him.

At that point, I ordered that our names be erased and my older brothers be informed that it was only our younger brother who did it. Dr Herrera’s associate wrote a letter to my brothers stating that due to a misunderstanding he included my mother’s name and mine too. They received the letter after two weeks.

I went to my own lawyer and asked him to write a proper letter to my brothers. My lawyer could not believe that a precautionary warrant was issued in my name without my knowledge or authorisation, and he contacted Dr Herrera’s associate, who acknowledged his mistake and answered that it was a ‘zball ta’ pinna’. I posted the letters myself that same evening and till then had no papers in my hands.

After about a month my younger brother filed a lawsuit against my two elder brothers, our mother and myself. After six months, the court ordered that the precautionary warrant was frivolous and should be revoked.

Two weeks after my older brothers ordered a ‘mandat ta’ zbank’ to reclaim their funds, our younger brother had another precautionary warrant issued, signed by Dr Joe Herrera and his associate, against my two older brothers and me too, for €100,000 each. The reason given was that the previous one had been revoked.

Needless to say, the court ordered its revocation and also ordered our youngest brother to pay all the damages, which were never settled. Afterwards, I wanted to sue for further damages, and the only reason I didn’t was because I could not bear to start another lawsuit while paying hundreds of euros in fees and taking countless hours of vacation leave for court sittings. Also, my mother had fallen ill and I had to take care of her.

I have written about what happened so that people can see for themselves how abusive the system is. Precautionary warrants are granted with no scrutiny, just a rubber stamp, but they cause maximum distress to the victim, who must then go through a complicated and costly process to get the warrant revoked and the funds returned.

In your case, it is even more shameful because the perpetrators are lawyers, member of parliament, cabinet minister and deputy leader of the party in government. They should know better.