Harassment Injunctions ...

What is Harassment?

Harassment is when someone, or a number of people behave in a way which makes you feel distressed, alarmed, humiliated or threatened.

For the harassment to become a crime, it must have happened on at least two occasions. It could be by someone you know, like a neighbour or people from you local area, or it could be a stranger - for example, someone using social media.

Examples of harassment include...

Unwanted phone calls, letters, emails or visits.

Stalking.

Verbal abuse and threats.

Smashing windows or using dogs to frighten you.

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 has purposely not fully defined the term “Harassment” so as to allow the courts discretion to decide whether a case is harassment or not. The courts will look at whether most people or a “reasonable” person would think the behaviour amounts to harassment.

This area of law is comparatively recent and case law is resetting the boundaries all the time.

Harassment is both a criminal offence and a civil action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This means someone can be prosecuted in the criminal courts if they harass you. It also means you can take action against the person in the civil courts to prevent them from doing it again in the future.

What action can you take?

If you believe you’re being harassed and you would like it to stop, there are two main things you can do, depending on the level of harassment and how it is making you feel.

Contact the police - If you’re being harassed and you feel you're in danger you should contact the police. If you think you’re being harassed because of your disability, race, religion, transgender identity or sexual orientation, you can report the harassment to the police as a hate incident or crime.

Find your local police station at www.police.uk.

They will then investigate and decide whether to start a criminal case against the abuser.

When can you take civil court action about harassment?

If you’ve been the victim of harassment you can take action in the civil courts against the person harassing you, as long as it is within six years of when the harassment happened. Even if the person harassing you has not been found guilty of an offence in the criminal courts, you can still take civil court action to prevent the harassment taking place in the future.

What can the civil court do about harassment?The court can make an order or injunction - this means the person harassing you must stop their behaviour. If they don’t stop harassing you after the court has made an injunction against them, it's a criminal offence and they can be prosecuted in the criminal courts.The court can award compensation - if you’ve suffered financial or emotional loss due to the harassment

What if a Harassment Injunction is broken?

It is a criminal offence to break a harassment injunction and if found guilty it carries a maximum prison term of up to a five year.

Overview.

Protect the confidentiality of business information with this one way non disclosure agreement. Also known as a confidentiality agreement, this document offers protection when a business wants to disclose information to another business but needs to make sure that the information goes no further. This NDA allows you to get to know each other better so you can decide whether to enter into a longer-term deal or partnership.

When to use..

Use this one-way confidentiality agreement..

When you want to share confidential information with another business (or individual).

To impress upon the other party the value of your confidential information.

To impose restrictions on use and disclosure of the confidential information.

To impose requirements about protection of your confidential information.

This one-way confidentiality agreement covers

The definition of confidential information protection..

what can it be used for..

who is allowed to receive confidential information?

Disclosures required by law ending the agreement.

Remedies if there is a breach of confidentiality.

What is a one-way confidentiality agreement?

A one-way confidentiality agreement (or unilateral non-disclosure agreement) covers situations where only one party is disclosing confidential information, and one party is receiving it.

It is a legal contract that offers protection to the party disclosing confidential information and imposes restrictions to the party receiving it.

When do I need a one-way confidentiality agreement?

Common situations where you may need to use a unilateral NDA include:

bringing in a consultant.

Talking to potential partners.

Hiring an employee.

Asking the other party to sign an NDA protects any sensitive information you may share. A unilateral NDA protects this information by stating that anything confidential that is shared by the disclosing party will not be disclosed by the receiving party (except in prescribed circumstances) and if it is shared, then there will be reparations eg damages.

What type of information may be protected?

Almost any type of information can be confidential information. You can protect both commercial information and personal information. Examples of confidential information include trade secrets, patents, products designs, data bases, recipes, drawings, client’s information or lists etc.

What is ‘the purpose of disclosure’ in a confidentiality agreement?

When drafting a one-way confidentiality agreement, you must state the purpose for which the confidential information is being disclosed to the receiving party. This is also called the ‘'permitted purpose'’. The purpose of disclosing the information must be legitimate and for specific reasons. You must describe the purpose of disclosure as clearly as possible, eg for the purposes of exploring a joint venture between the parties.

When is information not considered to be confidential?

Information is not deemed to be confidential if..

It is already known to the party receiving the confidential information prior to disclosure.

Is known to the public.

Comes into the possession of the receiving party from a third party who did not violate any contractual or legal obligations himself by disclosing this informationis required to be disclosed by law or rules of any court.

How long should confidential information remain confidential for?

The period of time for which each party must keep the information confidential will vary depending on the circumstances. Confidentiality agreements can be terminated immediately by giving notice in writing or can automatically terminate (after 1, 3 or 5 years if creating a Rocket Lawyer NDA). You should set a realistic time period for the duration of the agreement as information can lose its confidential character or commercial value over time.

What are the remedies available for breach of confidential information?

The remedies available for breaching a confidentiality agreement are proportionate to the wrong done. A successful claimant in an action for misuse of confidential information is entitled to a percentage of profits that have resulted from the misuse of information, damages and, or injunction.

Overview.

Preserve confidentiality when two businesses exchange commercially sensitive information by using this mutual confidentiality agreement. This two-way non-disclosure agreement (NDA) offers protection when two businesses want to share information with each other but need to make sure that the information goes no further. This mutual NDA allows you to get to know each other better so you can decide whether to enter into a longer-term deal or partnership.

When to use..

Use this confidentiality agreement..

When you want to exchange confidential information with another business (or individual).

To impress upon the other party the value of the confidential information.

To impose requirements about protection of your confidential information.

What it covers..

This NDA/non-disclosure agreement covers:

Definition of confidential information.

Protection of confidential information.

Who is allowed to receive confidential information?

Disclosures required by law.

Ending the agreement.

Remedies if there is a breach of confidentiality.

What is a confidentiality agreement?

A confidentiality agreement (also known as non-disclosure agreement) is a legal contract that offers protection where two or more parties will be disclosing confidential information to each other.

Do I need a confidentiality agreement?

Common situations where you may need to use an NDA include:

Bringing in a consultant talking to potential partners.

Hiring an employee.

Asking the other party in these situations to sign an NDA protects any sensitive information you may share. An NDA protects this information by stating that anything confidential that is shared between the parties will not be shared with others (except in prescribed circumstances) and if it is shared, then there will be reparations eg damages.

What type of information may be protected?

Almost any type of information can be confidential information. You can protect both commercial information and personal information. Examples of confidential information include trade secrets, patents, products designs, data bases, recipes, drawings, client’s information or lists etc.

What is ‘the purpose of disclosure’ in a confidentiality agreement?

When drafting a confidentiality agreement you must state the purpose of the creating the NDA (the disclosure) to the other party. This is also called the ‘permitted purpose’. The purpose of disclosing the information must be legitimate and for specific reasons. You must describe the purpose of disclosure as clearly as possible, eg for the purposes of exploring a joint venture between the parties.

When is information not considered to be confidential?

Information is not deemed to be confidential if it..

Is already known to the party receiving the confidential information at the time of its disclosure.

Is known to the public.

Comes into the possession of the receiving party from a third party who did not violate any contractual or legal obligations himself by disclosing this information.

Is required to be disclosed by law or rules of any court.

When will a confidentiality agreement end?

The period of time for which each party must keep the information confidential will vary depending on the circumstances. Confidentiality agreements can be terminated immediately by giving notice in writing or can automatically terminate (after 1, 3 or 5 years if creating a Rocket Lawyer NDA). You should set a realistic time period for the duration of the agreement as information can lose its confidential character or commercial value over time.

What are the remedies available for breach of confidential information?

The remedies available for breaching a confidentiality agreement are proportionate to the wrong done. A successful claimant in an action for misuse of confidential information is entitled to a percentage of profits that have resulted from the misuse of information, damages and, or an injunction.

In PRIVATE Law...

A C4 Form is an application to the court for an order for the disclosure of a child’s whereabouts.

In this form you will need to give details of the person whom you consider knows the whereabouts of the child, and you will also have to pay a court fee as is the case with any court order application.

The C4 Form is a straightforward enough document, but you will need to have plenty of details and information to hand in order to fill it out correctly. Not doing so can cause delays to your application and extra stress for you.

The form has four simple sections, but each part must be filled out carefully and correctly. At this time it is beneficial to have the advice of a solicitor or McKenzie Friend to support you in completing the form accurately.

Filling out the form:

On the first page, you will need the full name(s) of the children involved in the proceedings along with their date of birth, their gender and both the applicants and the respondents relationship to the child(ren).

The next part of the form is all about you, your name, gender, date of birth and your relationship to the child(ren) you are concerned for. You must also provide the name of your solicitor and contact details.

For each child, you must state full names, addresses and the telephone number of the person believed to have actual control of the child. You will also be required to provide details that identify the child, and you should enclose a recent photograph of the child, which should be dated.

When filling out the form, it is important to be clear about the order you are seeking and what you would like the court to do with the information you are seeking. You will need to state the name(s) of the person(s) to be directed by the court to disclose relevant information as to the whereabouts of the child. You must also include specific directions as to when and how the information shall be disclosed to the court.

When considering who may know where your child is, try to be imaginative.  It is likely that your ex-partners family may know, so they can be listed, as can government agencies who should know, such as the DWP, HMRC etc.  If your child is of school age, the Department of Education may know, as would the local authority of any area you believe they may be living in.

Be extremely clear about your grounds of the application. State clearly as to why you believe that the court does not have adequate information as to where the child is, and you must state why you believe the person(s) to whom the order is directed may have relevant information.

Lets make local authorities answerable.

under the Human Rights Act 1998.

a) This clause could be applied to any looked after child (even those who are in the care system by agreement with the parents) despite not having any legal process into the threshold not being met by parents carried out to be able remove a child from their parents and to place the child for adoption has been fully established.

In voluntary accommodation and pre-birth cases there will not have been any

legal proceedings at all, hence families are very unlikely to have had legal

advice;

b) The court’s final decision about whether the child should be removed from their family will be pre-empted by the child forming attachments to the prospective adopters. Any court which later considers the case would not be able to resist the status quo argument i.e. it is better for the child to stay with

the adopters than return to their parents since it would then be contrary to the

child’s welfare and not in the childs best interests to break those attachments.

c) Placement orders will become redundant. Originally introduced by the Adoption and Children Act 2002, they were intended to ensure that parents had a real opportunity to fight the adoption plan before the child was placed with adopters making the status quo argument became very powerful.

d) There is no legal duty to work with parents to help them resolve their problems before or after the child is looked after, although this is clearly expected in guidance.

therefore Any Court later considering the case will be bound to conclude that it will be too late if the child has already become attached to the adopters.

e) Potentially suitable family and friends carers (e.g. grandparents or older

siblings) will be squeezed out because:

- Clause 1 says that once adoption is considered by the local authority, the

duty to give preference to family and friends care placements for the child no

longer applies; and

- Clause 2 says that the children who are not yet looked after, there is no legal duty on the

authority to consider wider family placements before they enter the care system and then potentially placed with adopters.

Thereafter, the status quo argument becomes   a more powerful or conclusive factor in preventing. moving them from the

prospective adopters to a relative's home. Whilst not only promoting positive out comes for children, family and friends, being in care also has the advantage of being able to provide the same short and long term care as prospective adopters under the Foster for Adoption model. Family, friends and carers also offer the advantages of early attachment and stability which can continue

long term if the child cannot return to their parents.

f) There are currently insufficient adopters (and foster carers) available for the

4,600 children who are currently authorised, and waiting, to be placed for

adoption. Record levels of care proceedings are currently leading to an increase

in the numbers of children in care for whom permanent placements are needed.

Without a corresponding increase in the number of potential adopters, many

more children will be left waiting in a legal limbo without achieving permanence,

yet in most cases cut off from their family.

g) This provision may actually deter potential adopters because:

- many want absolute certainty about the child’s future with them, which these

provisions do not guarantee; and

- many who hope to adopt a child may find it very difficult to promote and

manage contact with the birth family which should normally take place

when a child is in foster care.

If you can prove in hard black and white evidence that a professional has caused you malice and deliberately fabricated lies or falsified offical documents or reports to be used against you in court then you have good grounds to take them to the criminal courts under the malicious communications act.

Children's services have been using doctors and NHS staff for years to remove babies and children from hospitals, we all know children's services and the NHS are working together, and solicitors wont challenge doctors or midwifes because their not qualified in medical law.

Many doctors and midwife are using their own personal opinions disguised as medical opinions but there is a huge difference. Medical opinion is when a doctor or midwife should be able to describe the scientific facts here and outline the difference between the truth and the fabrication and they should be able to explain the diagnosed medical reasons where a child is at real risk of immediate harm and when in there option the child COULD BE AT RISK OF FUTURE HARM which is not a medical opinion but a personal opinion . Under the GMC code of practice it states they have to be able to clarify their medical justification, now many doctors and midwifes cannot do this.

this is where a case can be taken from civil courts over in to criminal proceedings which can investigate these professionals. A lot of these laws step over in to criminal law, it is important to check if midwifes and doctors have stepped over this fine line. More people are using criminal law on doctors, midwifes and social workers..

Parents need to seek professional advice from a solicitor that specialises in medical laws and if there families rights have been taken away from them then they need to be using there right to seek a second opinion,  Docotos are only there to diagnose or treat they not there to make judgements.

There is a very thin line between medical diagose and treatment which is to often to easily spetted over in to personal opinions once they step over that thin line in to personal views and opitions when they are treading on thin water and the threshold from civil courts in to criminal proceedings then you can use the malicious communications act.