I get many insulting and threatening letters come into my blog. They upset me at first but that fear has now gone now that I have more evidence that many of the people who are sending them are Christines friends using different names and email addresses. I also realise that if my campaign was succesful in persuading the Government to completly remove the personal grievance clause from the employment relations act then many people would lose their jobs and be replaced by better workers.
One such person is Cam Belt with 2 diferent email adresess. He is calling me a liar and a hyprocite as the 2 comments below show
Author : Cam Belt (IP: 195.43.48.138 , 195.43.48.138) E-mail : groovetainer@gmail.com
Comment:
That was a very long and uninteresting diatribe from Paul there. These touchstone values are all well and good, but putting them into practice is another thing. People who shout “integrity and honesty” on the one hand but then ignore justice and the rule of law on the other dont impress me. There may be cases of workers using the law to their advantage, but that doesnt mean it is inherently “corrupt” or wrong. People should be able to take grievances to court for determination, and citizens should respect the courts.
Your comment about someone who “went through most the lawyers in town” saying something about the integrity of the lawyers who did end up acting for her is disgraceful. Are you saying that some people arent entitled to a lawyer? Should you have to prove your case to your lawyer before they agree to act for you?
You keep going on about this trust for Ron being a silver bullet to any claims. You seem to know nothing about trusts. I’m not a lawyer but I know that transferring a property to a trust that has a charging order on it will activate that charging order. Sounds like you need to take your own advice and corroborate things before running your mouth.
Did the judge actually say that the lawyers had over-charged christine? Or did he simply look at the bill and award some of the costs? Because there is a big difference, courts never give all the costs, only some. So I want to know if the judge categorically stated “you have been over-charged”. Maybe Mr Bishop can enlighten us???
Author : Cam Belt (IP: 195.43.48.138 , 195.43.48.138) E-mail : thejanitor@aol.com
Comment:
You are a liar! The decision on costs is available online. No where does the judge say christine was overcharged. He disallows some costs claimed as not related to the hearing and states some of the time spent is disproportionate. However, he does adjust the award upwards against you for your unreasonable conduct. The judge also tells you not to make any more public comments against christine. You have purposefully over-egged the judges comments. You have clearly proven yourself to be dishonest – you know you are misrepresenting the comments. What a hypocrite.
Ronnie B replys
How long have you been a Janitor Cam. I used to be one of those when I was young. Its a shit job but someone has to do it. I’m sorry I cannot provide you with the hard copy evidence that the Judge said she was overcharged by $10,000 but I am sure if you write to the Employment Court in Christchurch they will provide a copy for you under the official informations act. The document you are looking for is 2012 NZEmpC5 CRC/10 Costs Judgment of Judge Couch.
In clause [19] I find that no more than 50 hours work were reasonably required by counsel charging $250 plus Gst per hour to represent M/s Benet in the procedings before the court. I find that the extent of the costs actually and reasonably incured by M/s Bennet was $14,000 That suggests a starting point for an award of costs $9,333
Clause [35] While I find that payment of $10,000 would cause a measure of hardship it would not cause then undue hardship. It follows that ability to pay is not a factor which ought to affect the exersise of my desretion in awading costs
Clause [36] reads Mr & Mrs Bishop are orded to pay M/s Bennet $10,000 for costs
Actual Costs
What I can do for you and all my readers is provide you with more information about how much Christine was invoiced for up until the end of the court hearing. Remember her costs are still climbing as she attempts to enforce payment for compensation after being dismised for dishonesty, verbal abuse, physical agression and slander in the work place.
Employment Relations Authority meeting
I disputed this amount because it was not an itemised account as to how these costs ocured. Below is what we were given
Preparation for Mediation meeting and attendance $1913.75
Preparation for Investigation meeting and attendance $7654.00
Preparation of costs …………………………………………………………… $ 600.00
Total $10,167.75
Employment Court Hearing
We were provided with the invoices for these cost and below is the total of the invoices
Preparation for employment court appeal……………………………… $9,483.13
Attendance Employment court hearing & other costs……………….$14,555,10
Total $24038.23
Total invoiced to Christine Bennet $ 34,205.98
In his assesment in awarding costs the Judge disputed the claim made by Christine’s lawyers and estimated the law firm should of charged no more than $14,000
because the work that was not carried out by a senior solicitor. The judge then awarded Christine $10,000 which Margaret and I have to pay from our pension.
Timaru Tourist Promotions Limited
At the time of Christine’s dismissal I was working full time for TTP plus running my motivotional coaching business. I had to give this work up because the Government denied me the opportunity to hire a lawyer. We received the determination results from the ERA meeting a day before Christmas. I had been on the road traveling from Bluff to Cape Reinga in a bid promote all the towns along State Highway One and I was recording my journey on my website www.travellersguide.co.nz and I had to give that up to work as my own lawyer protecting my wife and family from the claws of the employment relations act
Photo News Books
It took 15 months for the judge to make his decision on his court hearing and by then I was imersed in writing books for children and promoting the South Canterbury district. I had been going door to door collecting donations and giving them to children and the elderly for free. Some of those books appear on the right hand side of this blog
Counter Claim ERA
Because I had to give up my work as a Tourism Promoter and Author of books for charity I reasoned it is only fair that I should be able to counter claim for my costs as well. I also reasoned that I shoud be able to counterclaim against people and organisations that had hindered my wife and I from having a fair trial.
During the ERA meeting we claimed $42653.99 which included the costs associated with Christine using our office to run her life insurance business and goods she had taken from our business. Included in our counterclaim was compensation of $15,000 for worry and stress caused within our family.
Costs
Our counterclaim did not include my loss of income for the 4 years I have been working on the case. My company Timaru Tourist Promotions Limited sent in an invoice to the Employment Relations Authority for $12500 for my time while I was employed as an employment advocate for my debt collection business Debtor Communications. The invoice was ignored and our counterclaim was lost in its entirity.
Employment Court Counter Claim
Our costs and loss of income were mounting every day so we filed another counter claim through the employment court but the Judge through it out and prevented its content from being heard in court.
There were 11 defendants named in the counterclaim with Chistine being the first defendant followed by a trading bank, a life Insurance company, a Police Station, a ERA Member, a Barrister, an Employment advocate, a Law Firm, Newspaper, a District Court and a Political Party.
Comments Please
My wife and I are seeking a full investigtion into our case in a bid to change the law and as such we are offering our case to be debated in parliament. Your comments are welcome and will add greatly to the debate.
Christine Bennet 
God give me the strength to help those with mental disorders
When Christine told me that people around town were telling he that I had a mental disorder I was so angry and that became one the many reasons why I dismissed her. Then to hear her lawyer stand up in court and read out in front the public and the media that Ron Bishop has bipolar disorder made me feel so shameful.
Suicide note
One of the causes of bipolar attacks is trauma anxiety and stress so when I received the letter from the Judge informing me that we had lost our case I wrote suicide note and sent it to my doctor.
When the letter finally came to tell us that Christine was going to force the sale of home and put us out on the street fear and anxiety set in. In desperation I wrote on my blog and sent copies to the Prime minister and other members of parliament
“I will comit murder and suicide if anyone tries to take our home away from us.”
Some kind women in England heard my cry for help and it wasn’t long before I had a call from my doctor and soon found myself being interviewed by 2 police officers.
As more abusve threats came on to my blog I could see no way out and I started to get the shakes. All this was happening when I was in hospital after being diagnosed with cancer. It was not a policeman I wanted I just wanted someone to listen to my story.
I prayed to God and dug deep and made a final decision that the only way I could stop our home from being sold was to call their bluff and announce that they could do what they like but I would never ever pay Christine Bennet or her lawyers one cent.
Once I made that decision cracks in Christine’s case began to appear which would prevent he from forcing the sale of our home. I gained a new lease of life and complained to the law society about 4 of her solicitors who had broken their code of ethics.
Now that the truth was out I decided that I would give John Kirwan a hand and help other people who have experienced what it is like to carry the shame of the burden of biopla disorder. I want to tell my story publicly and let people know that it no disgrace to get bipolar disorder its a natural illness that lasts a few weeks just like getting the flue.
The bipolar attacks can be managed with medication and counseling and I will be visiting my counselor tomorrow. The worst think you can do for the illness is be in denial and not talk about it. The public are afraid of any type of mental illness because they dont understand it. Once I made it public that I suffered from a mental illness no one has made a comment on my last post and yet I know there are many people who suffering from the illness but are to ashamed to put their hand up
If you have a story to tell about your mental illness and you have the courage to share it then you will be taking the first steps to recovery. write your story in the comments box of this post.
This subject of employment law will close after the next post