Controversial attorney Zuko Nonxuba and an advocate that acted for a severely disabled man in a lawsuit against the health department, face having their large success fees significantly reduced.
Nonxuba and KwaZulu-Natal Advocate Ian Dutton may find themselves having to pay back a substantial amount of money to their client, paraplegic Mabuti Mathimba, after the Grahamstown High Court set aside a contingency fee agreement which saw the two lawyers net substantially more than the stipulated legal cap of 25% which lawyers may legally charge on a contingency basis on any capital amount paid out to a client.
Judge Murray Lowe, with Judges Thembekile Malusi and Mbulelo Jolwana agreeing, said the 25% cap was a “globular amount” applying to the total fee that all lawyers involved in any matter could charge. It did not mean that each lawyer was entitled to up to 25% of the sum paid out to the client. The R840,000 charged by Nonxuba combined with the R1.2m charged by Dutton exceeded this cap.
According to court papers, Mathimba sued both the RAF and the Health Department after a terrible accident in the Lusikisiki area in 2004 left him badly disabled when he was just 14 years old. The 28-year-old is now paralysed in both legs and has no proper function of bowel or bladder. He also suffered terrible pressure sores due to neglect in a state hospital. The health department paid him out some R6.9m.
The judges declared the contingency fee agreement null and void and said Dutton could only charge party-and-party costs. This is the lowest scale of costs that a lawyer may recover.
Nonxuba, who initially claimed some R5.7m or 62% of Mabuthi’s total R9.1m combined payout from the RAF and health department, earlier this year conceded that the separate contingency fee agreements he negotiated with Mathimba were also illegal. He paid back Mathimba a further R3.6m he had initially claimed as fees.
2 It has taken over three years of threats, reports to the Law Society and expensive high court litigation to get Nonxuba to pay Mathimba his due.
Lawyers must pay back large fees to disabled man
Image: Lulamile Feni
Controversial attorney Zuko Nonxuba and an advocate that acted for a severely disabled man in a lawsuit against the health department, face having their large success fees significantly reduced.
Nonxuba and KwaZulu-Natal Advocate Ian Dutton may find themselves having to pay back a substantial amount of money to their client, paraplegic Mabuti Mathimba, after the Grahamstown High Court set aside a contingency fee agreement which saw the two lawyers net substantially more than the stipulated legal cap of 25% which lawyers may legally charge on a contingency basis on any capital amount paid out to a client.
Judge Murray Lowe, with Judges Thembekile Malusi and Mbulelo Jolwana agreeing, said the 25% cap was a “globular amount” applying to the total fee that all lawyers involved in any matter could charge. It did not mean that each lawyer was entitled to up to 25% of the sum paid out to the client. The R840,000 charged by Nonxuba combined with the R1.2m charged by Dutton exceeded this cap.
According to court papers, Mathimba sued both the RAF and the Health Department after a terrible accident in the Lusikisiki area in 2004 left him badly disabled when he was just 14 years old. The 28-year-old is now paralysed in both legs and has no proper function of bowel or bladder. He also suffered terrible pressure sores due to neglect in a state hospital. The health department paid him out some R6.9m.
The judges declared the contingency fee agreement null and void and said Dutton could only charge party-and-party costs. This is the lowest scale of costs that a lawyer may recover.
Nonxuba, who initially claimed some R5.7m or 62% of Mabuthi’s total R9.1m combined payout from the RAF and health department, earlier this year conceded that the separate contingency fee agreements he negotiated with Mathimba were also illegal. He paid back Mathimba a further R3.6m he had initially claimed as fees.
2 It has taken over three years of threats, reports to the Law Society and expensive high court litigation to get Nonxuba to pay Mathimba his due.
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