Case in point

Balclutha woman Marilyn Davidson, who has won a lengthy battle with a government department....
Balclutha woman Marilyn Davidson, who has won a lengthy battle with a government department. Photo by Glenn Conway.
Marilyn Davidson felt as if she had won Lotto when told the Government would no longer be trying to recover $25,000 from her.

"I could feel the relief and the pressure come off me. It was fantastic," the 59-year-old recalls.

"I rang the kids at work and said `I've won'."

The next person she called was Dunedin Community Law Centre lawyer Meghan Zetko, who helped her with her case.

The Balclutha woman's problems began eight years ago when she fell through a skylight at a local restaurant while trying to close a window.

"I fell 15 feet [5m] down into the building below," Mrs Davidson says.

"It happened so fast. I broke every bone in one leg, smashed the other heel and damaged my back.

I was in plaster for nine months and couldn't work."

The government department she was dealing with would later say she owed it money because she received earnings-related compensation at the same time as receiving a benefit.

But she claims staff knew she was on ACC because she told them whenever the payment increased.

Distraught because she knew she could never pay off the debt, she went to a law centre clinic in Balclutha and asked the staff to represent her at an appeal.

The centre was able to establish the department was not entitled under its own operating legislation to recover the sum, and the debt was written off.

Mrs Davidson says the law centre is excellent for those who cannot afford to hire a private lawyer and maintains she would not have been successful if it were not for Ms Zetko, who was her voice and a shoulder to cry on.

Ms Zetko says the case is one of many where the centre has been able to obtain successful outcomes.

These include civil cases between parties, such as minor car accidents that might otherwise have involved the police, making retailers aware of their obligations to repair faulty items and helping a tenant obtain an early release from a fixed-term tenancy when his flat proved to be unhealthy.

In other cases, mail-order companies have harassed people by sending them unsolicited goods and then claiming they owe them money.

The people targeted are usually vulnerable in that they are older and living alone, she says.

One elderly woman, Margaret, had made it clear on many occasions that she wanted to cancel her subscription, yet the company continued to send her books and charge her for a subscription for the following year.

"We were able to resolve the situation the day she came to see us. We contacted the company and they deleted her account and refunded the money in dispute to Margaret."

 

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