Good day.

I was in prison falsly for five years 2009-2014. It was a murder case and the police beat me to confess to the murder but i did not commit the murder. I did confess and that was used against me. But it was a traumatic experience for me because my mom shot herself dead and i was held responsible. I was a awaiting trail detanee 2009-2014. Was found not guilty in 2014.

i went to a lawyer a few weeks after being found not guilty and he made a case on my behalf against the state for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution  on a contingency fee basis where he would do my case and take a percentage to cover his costs.

On March 30 2015 i signed the contract and trusted that he would do my case and he was very sure that i would win and that i would not have to worry about any costs.

This case of mine has been with this lawyer from 2015 till now 2022, seven years. 

But he has broken the contract because after ensuring me that he would cover the costs he now wants me to finance the case and i cant because i dont have the money for that.

He is directly breaching the contincency fee agreement we had. From 30 March 2015 up until November 2019 he assured me in correspondance that everything is going ok. So i was happy and expected to have a victory because what happend to me caused alot of family problems, i am mentally sick because of the arrest, the inprisonment and malicious prosecution and i struggle financialy.

In November 2019 my lawyer corresponded with me and suddently told me that my case is to risky to take to court and that he needs a R 100 000 deposit and client attourny fees to complete my case because he does not want to finance my case anymore and is a breach of contract. He told also that my case expired and that is not my fault but his fault and he told me i should have made a case while in prison but how could i have made a case i was in prison.

i really trusted him and he let me down. It is 2022 now and my case has not even been to court. My lawyer says i must close the case but i cant close this case because i suffered injustice.

Can i sue my lawyer or somehow force him to complete my case, i dont want to lose this case because i cant live with myself if there is no justice and compensation for me.

I have told a other lawyer about this he does not answer me.

What can i do? i dont have money to pay for this case. I was arrested in randburg gauteng but im living in the western cape now.

Thank you

Hi there,

I see that you haven't made a payment for the question, but I'm going to assist you a little. If you want to ask a follow-up question, please make the required payment, even if it is R150 or R200.

Is the R100,000 which he requires to cover the costs of the advocate? If yes, then perhaps he can find an advocate who is also willing to work on a contincency fee agreement?

Att. Patrick 

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow-up questions please make the required deposit, then use the REPLY button and ask your further question. I would like to continue assisting you, but I need to concentrate on people who make deposits for their questions - they get serviced first!