Martyn Day (lawyer)

Martyn Day is a British solicitor specializing in international, environmental and product liability claims who founded — and is the Senior Partner of — the law firm Leigh Day. He was a director of Greenpeace Environmental Trust, having stepped down as chairman of Greenpeace UK in 2008.

For the Scottish politician, see Martyn Day (politician).

Examples of his work include negotiating settlements for approximately 1,300 Kenyans injured/killed by British Army munitions,[1] for 52 Colombian farmers in a claim against BP relating to the damage caused to farms in the north of the country[2] for residents of Abidjan after the disposal of waste in the Ivory Coast has led to deaths and injuries in Abidjan[3] and Iraqis alleging torture by British soldiers.[4]

He is the co-author of Toxic Torts, Personal Injury Handbook, Multi-Party Actions and Environmental Action: A Citizens Guide. In April 2008 Day was identified by The Times as one of the UK's most powerful and influential lawyers.[5]

In late 2014, Leigh Day was referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for issues arising from the Al-Sweady Inquiry.

Family

Day is the elder brother of Peabody Award winning documentary filmmaker Philip J Day.

Early career

Day went to school at Peterhouse Boys' School in Zimbabwe before returning to England for his A-Levels and a law degree at Warwick University.[6] He qualified with Colombotti & Partners in 1981 before practicing at Clifford & Co. and subsequently Bindman & Partners.[7]

Leigh Day

Leigh Day was established in 1987 by Day and Sarah Leigh. The firm's ethos is "to ensure that the ordinary person has just as good quality legal advice as our state bodies, insurers, and multi-nationals." [8]

One of the UK's most prominent human rights lawyers, Day and his firm have been described by The Guardian newspaper as the "scourge of the corporations."[9] He specialises in group claims, securing damages in cases including a group of Sellafield nuclear workers suffering from leukaemia and the Japanese prisoner of war cases. He has also won damages claims for Colombian farmers against BP and represented four of the six men injured in the trials following the 2006 Northwick Park drug tests. He co-founded Leigh Day & Co, where he is the senior partner, in 1987.

Controversy

Disciplinary by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

As of April 2017, Martyn Day and colleague Sapna Malik, solicitors at Leigh Day were facing a disciplinary hearing for an alleged breach of Solicitors Regulation Authority rules which will be conducted by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The case centers on whether Leigh Day made prohibited referral fees adding up to £75,000; failed to deliver crucial documents to the Al-Sweady Inquiry into allegations of abuses by British soldiers in Iraq; and continued to maintain allegations and to seek damages ‘when it was improper to do so.’ Both Day and Malik contest the allegations.[10] The charges date back to the five-year Al-Sweady inquiry into civilian claims of abuse by British soldiers in 2004 during the Iraq War. The inquiry was concluded in 2014 when chairman Sir Thayne Forbes declared many of the claims were false or exaggerated. In the report, Forbes said the most serious claims 'have been found to be wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility.'[11]

On 12 June 2017, Leigh Day was cleared of all misconduct charges by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.[12]

The South Yorkshire firm Beresford

Miners and their relatives approached Beresfords to claim compensation for chronic lung problems and vibration white finger, a hand condition caused by working with vibrating machinery. The firm, based in Doncaster, advertised its services to miners and their families, distributing a yellow flyer across coalfields. It handled 97,651 claims under a scheme agreed by the old Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to compensate miners for health problems caused by work for British Coal since the 1970s.[13] But while the firm earned millions, the miners it represented won relatively small compensation payouts, averaging just over £2,000.

"This has turned out to be a bonanza for solicitors," said Geoffrey Hopkinson, son of miner George Hopkinson. Day has said of the incident, "It is no longer just the Daily Mail who call us "ambulance chasers"...[14]"I still believe that accident lawyers have a key role to play in our society and that we can get away from the "Del Boy" image of recent years. But any more miners-style sagas and our collective reputations will never recover."[15]

Notable cases

Mau Mau Uprising

Day helped to fight for the right of elderly victims of British torture during the Mau Mau Uprising to sue the UK government for compensation.[16][17][18] Leigh Day sued the British government on behalf of 5,228 former insurgents in 2010, and the British Foreign Office agreed to a £19.9 million settlement in 2013.[19]

In October 2014, the Law Society of Kenya launched legal proceedings against Leigh Day at the High Court in Nairobi, claiming that the £6.6 million claimed by the firm in legal fees was disproportionate to the compensation provided to the Mau Mau torture victims. The Law Society complaint also alleged that Leigh Day had practiced in Kenya without being qualified to represent the claimants and without a valid licence. Leigh Day was also accused of failing to distribute compensation in full and fabricating some of the names on the list of victims.[20]

Colombian Farmers V. BP

In July 2006, a group of Colombian farmers won a multimillion-pound settlement from BP after the British oil and gas company was accused of benefiting from a regime of terror carried out by Colombian government paramilitaries to protect a 450-mile (720 km) pipeline.[21]

BP denied that it “owed any relevant duty of care” to the claimants, stating that it “did not design, construct or operate the pipeline” and was “at no stage responsible for its maintenance." The company refutes liability for long-term environmental damage, blaming deforestation and cattle grazing for soil erosion and dismissing claims of widespread environmental damage as “significantly inflated."

Marta Hinestroza, a local lawyer who was granted political asylum in the UK after being told that her name had appeared on a paramilitary hitlist, first brought the case to the attention of Leigh Day, who negotiated an out-of-court settlement for a separate group of farmers in 2006.[22]

In June 2006 BP and the farmers met for mediation in Bogotá. On 22 July 2006, the parties announced that a settlement had been reached. The parties did not disclose the terms and amounts paid. However, in a joint statement they did announce that BP, without admitting liability, had agreed to establish an Environmental and Social Improvement Trust Fund for the benefit of the farmers, together with a programme of workshops dealing with environmental management and business development. According to press reports, the amount paid by BP was not thought to be as high as the £15 million originally claimed but was believed to run to several million pounds.[23]

Trafigura Toxic Waste Dump

The 2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic waste dump was a health crisis in Côte d'Ivoire in which a ship registered in Panama, the Probo Koala, chartered by the oil and commodity shipping company Trafigura Beheer BV, disposed of toxic waste in the Ivorian port of Abidjan.

In November 2006, the High Court of Justice in London agreed to hear a group action by about 30,000 claimants from Côte d'Ivoire against Trafigura over the alleged dumping of toxic waste from the Probo Koala.[24] The British law firm Leigh Day had brought one of the biggest group actions in legal history, seeking damages of £100 million. Over 20,000 claimants signed a petition calling for Leigh Day to have responsibility for the payments. Justice MacDuff gave a ruling in October 2009 that Leigh Day should have responsibility for finalising the payments.

In September 2009 there was an investigation into the identity of Claude Gouhourou, who claimed to represent 30,000 claimants. Leigh Day had worked out a system for the payment of each claimant through the use of a payment card to be used at automated teller machines in Abidjan. The PINs for the cards were given out in October, but, just as this process was coming to an end and before the cards could be distributed, Leigh Day and the bank were served with a freezing order on the account.

Gouhourou protested the funds transfer and insisted that he was one of the fifty or so representatives of the many communities in Abidjan affected by the toxic waste. In his evidence he stated that he and the other representatives had set up a coordinating association of which he was the president and that this association had the responsibility for distributing the compensation money.[25]

On 22 January 2010, Gouhourou provided documents to prove his case that have since been shown to be false. The other representatives all deny the existence of any such association, the representatives who supposedly signed the association's inauguration papers deny the signatures were theirs, and the town hall where the association was supposedly registered deny this occurred and their stamp was forged. Leigh Day lodged criminal allegations with the Ivorian prosecuting authorities about these actions.[26] Claude Gohourou was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January 2015.[27]

In the aftermath of the Gouhourou fraud case, the English High Court ruled that Leigh Day had been negligent in its management of the compensation payments. £6 million of the compensation package had been embezzled, leaving 6,000 claimants without compensation.[28] Judge Andrew Smith noted that Martyn Day had ignored warnings that Côte d'Ivoire's unstable political and financial systems would leave the funds vulnerable to embezzlement and that the funds should instead be distributed from a European account. Instead, the firm pushed ahead with using an Ivorian account.[29]

Iraq torture allegations against British Soldiers

Day successfully represented the family of Baha Mousa in a civil case bought against the British Ministry of Defence and obtained compensation for his family.[30] On 27 March 2008, the British Defence Secretary, Des Browne, admitted to "substantial breaches" of the European Convention of Human Rights over the murder of Baha Mousa.[31] In July 2008, the Ministry of Defence agreed to pay £2.83 million in compensation to the family of Baha Mousa and nine other men, following an admission of "substantive breaches" of articles 2 and 3 (right to life and prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights by the British Army.[32]

Following the battle of Danny Boy in May 2004, it was falsely alleged that British Soldiers captured 31 Iraqis following an ambush in May 2004, before killing 22 and leaving only nine injured survivors.[4] On 21 January 2008, the Daily Mail reported that:[33]

Lawyers Phil Shiner and Martyn Day of Leigh Day are representing the Iraqis.

They travelled out to Istanbul earlier this month to meet with some of the alleged survivors and the other witnesses to the events.

Mr Shiner said today: "The testimonies of these five men taken over five days in Istanbul by myself and Martyn contain shocking material and combine to give a harrowing account of what took place.

"I have never heard such evidence in nearly 30 years of being a solicitor."

Day said: "Phil and I are clear that what took place in Majar is of massive consequence not just for the British Army and the British Government but for the British people.

"Today is the first step in ensuring what happened in Majar is brought out into the open."

On 25 November 2009, Bob Ainsworth, then the British Minister of State for the Armed Forces, announced that a retired High Court judge Sir Thayne Forbes would chair the public inquiry into allegations that 20 Iraqis, taken prisoner during the battle, were murdered and that others were tortured. The British Ministry of Defence denied that the 20 were captured, but that 20 bodies were removed from the battlefield for identification and then returned to the families, and that a further nine prisoner were taken and held for questioning but were not mistreated.[34][35]

In March 2014 Counsel acting for the Iraqis conceded that the murder allegations would not be pursued in closing submissions. The Al-Sweady Inquiry nevertheless went on to make detailed findings and found that no Iraqis had been murdered by British troops during the battle and that the allegations of unlawful killings were based on “deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility” by the Iraqi plaintiffs. The detainees were found to have been mistreated in a number of respects, although the most serious allegations of abuse were rejected. As a result, Leigh Day and Public Interest Lawyers (which closed in August 2016) were referred to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority for possible disciplinary action.[36]

Kenyans Killed by Unexploded Munitions

Prior to Kenyan independence, British soldiers had been carrying out military exercises in eastern Kenya since 1945. In 2001, the pastoral communities in the areas where the British do the exercises claimed that their people are being maimed and killed by unexploded ordnance left behind by the British.

The Ministry of Defence maintains that it has always been for the Kenyan authorities to clear unexploded devices, although it assists in the operation, and was unaware that the Kenyans were failing to make the area safe until last year. [37]

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not accepted full liability for the 228 victims on the grounds that other armies also use the same firing ranges in Archers Post and Dol Dol, but has agreed to pay the compensation.[38]

Journalism

Day has also written articles for The Guardian and The Times.[39][40]

References

1. ""Britain to Pay Kenyan Victims Of Ammunition Blasts."". Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
2. “Colombian Pipeline Disaster.”
3. “Waste Company Harms Natives.”
4. "British soldiers accused of torturing Iraqi prisoners". www.informationclearinghouse.info.
5. "The Times & The Sunday Times".
6. Mbaria, John (8 February 2005). "Kenya: Martyn Day: Fighting for the Oppressed is My Calling" – via AllAfrica.
7. "Martyn Day | Leigh Day | international human rights | business human rights | corporate accountability". www.leighday.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
8. ""Martyn Day: fierce advocate for the people."". Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
9. Vidal, John (1 August 2015). "Lawyers Leigh Day: troublemakers who are a thorn in the side of multinationals". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
10. "Leigh Day 'paid £75,000 in prohibited referral fees' – SRA".
11. http://www.legalbusiness.co.uk/index.php/lb-blog-view/6721-record-long-sdt-hearing-expected-for-leigh-day-solicitors-under-fire-british-army-claims
12. Hyde, John. "Leigh Day and its lawyers cleared of all 19 charges". The Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
13. "Sick miners' lawyers struck off". 11 December 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
14. Hirsch, Afua; correspondent, legal affairs (12 December 2008). "Lawyers guilty of making millions from sick miners" – via www.theguardian.com.
15. Day, Martyn (13 December 2008). "Martyn Day: Personal injury lawyers who cynically farm claimants and cream off their compensation are dragging a decent profession down" – via www.theguardian.com.
16. Casciani, Dominic (21 July 2011). "Mau Mau Kenyans allowed to sue UK government". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
17. Day, Martyn; Leader, Dan (5 October 2012). "The Kenyans tortured by the British must now be justly treated". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
18. Cobain, Ian; Hatcher, Jessica (5 May 2013). "Kenyan Mau Mau victims in talks with UK government over legal settlement". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
19. correspondent, Owen Bowcott Legal affairs (22 May 2016). "Mau Mau lawsuit due to begin at high court". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
20. "British law firm 'inflated' Mau Mau compensation costs to taxpayer". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
21. BP pays out millions to Colombian farmers.”
22. "" BP oil giant vs. Colombian farmers."".
23. "BP lawsuit (re Colombia) - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre". www.business-humanrights.org.
24. "Trafigura lawsuits (re Côte d'Ivoire) - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre". www.business-humanrights.org.
25. "Fear for Ivory Coast pay-out cash". 12 October 2017 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
26. "" Victims of toxic waste in despair at Court ruling."". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
27. "Massive embezzlement of the compensation that Trafigura paid - LE SCANDALE DU PROBO KOALA". LE SCANDALE DU PROBO KOALA. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
28. "Court finds Leigh Day breached duty of care to Trafigura claimant". Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
29. "UK law firm faces payout over missing Trafigura compensation". Retrieved 15 December 2016.
30. Weaver, Matthew; Norton-Taylor, Richard (10 July 2008). "MoD to pay £3m to Iraqis tortured by British troops" – via www.theguardian.com.
31. "MoD admits human rights breaches over death of tortured Iraqi civilian". Belfast Telegraph. 28 March 2008. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
32. "Iraqis to get £3m in MoD damages". BBC News. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
33. Article on the website of /www.informationclearinghouse.info which is an unverified copy British Soldiers Accused Of Torturing Iraqi Prisoners., Daily Mail, 21 January 2008
34. Brown, David (21 November 2010). Army faces inquiry over ‘Battle of Danny Boy’ torture claims, The Times.
35. Staff (25 November 2009). Inquiry announced into 'Battle of Danny Boy' Iraq abuse claims, Time Online.
36. Law firm at centre of Al-Sweady inquiry to close down, say reports, The Guardian, 15 August 2016
37. "Kanoute double leaves Gray's future looking black". 21 October 2001.
38. "" Britain to Pay Kenyan Victims Of Ammunition Blasts."". Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
39. Day, Martyn (13 December 2008). "Big fee, no win". The Times. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
40. Day, Martyn (22 October 2002). "Why judges should not decide scientific cases". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2018.

External links