Mike's Minute: You win in court but suffer financially - how does that work?

Here is a line up: Alex Salmond, former head of Scotland, Dame Noeline Taurua, and Siouxsie Wiles, as in the microbiologist. 

The Salmond family is wanting their estate made bankrupt. It comes out of a judicial review over the handling of a couple of complaints against him by civil servants that turned out to be “tainted”. 

In other words, his defence was successful, but the cost of winning proved too high.  

Noeline, I have no idea what her lawyers cost, but you would hope as part of the deal she gets the bill covered. But I doubt it. 

And then Siouxsie Wiles, who you may remember took her employer, Auckland University, to court and won. 

She took mediation arbitration – it went back and forward for a while, but ultimately ended in court. During Covid she was harassed, she claimed her employer should have done more to protect her.  

She has now launched a crowd funding page to help pay her bills. 

The commonality here is all three appear to be on the right side. They have been wronged, they have had to defend themselves, and yet all three appear out of pocket for the experience. 

Wiles has spent thousands – hundreds of thousands. She has taken loans, her and her husband, she won but she is paying off loans. 

Inherently here is a fault with the law. The costs, even when awarded your way, never cover the bill. My question: why not? 

Is justice really served or seen to be done if you can be victorious, if you can defend your name, your honour, or reputation and still go broke? 

Doesn’t that mean the deepest pockets will always triumph?  

The State v Salmond. A sport v a coach. The university v a microbiologist.  

It's one thing to settle – yes it saves court time, but do you settle because you will be broke if you don’t?  

Is being broke and right worth it? Is launching a crowdfunding bid acceptable when you didn’t do anything wrong? 

Is the justice system serving us properly when even the victorious and validated aren’t really winners?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So here's a lineup. Alex Salmon, former Head of Scotland,
Dame no Lean Tarua and Susie Wilds. You remember Susie
Wiles's microbiologist. Anyway, the Salmon family this week is wanting
the estate made bankrupt, comes out of a judicial review
over the handling of a couple of complaints against him
by civil servants that turned out to be tainted. In
other words, his defense was successful, but the cost of
winning proved too high. No Lean I got no idea

(00:22):
what her lawyers cost, but you would hope as part
of the deal she gets the bill covered, but you
know what, I doubt it. And then Susie Wiles. Now
you may remember she took her employer, the Auckland University,
to court and ju won. She took mediation, arbitration, went
back and forward and for a while ad Ultimately, though,
ended up in court and during COVID she was harassed.
She claimed her employer should have done more to protect her.
She has now launched a crowdfunding page to help pay

(00:46):
for her bills. Now, the commonality here is all three
appear to be on the right side. They have been wronged,
they have had to defend themselves, and yet all three
appear now to be out of pocket for the experience.
Wiles has spent thousands, hundreds of thousands of five I
think from reading six hundred thousand dollars plus. She's taken
out loans here and a husband. She's one, she's one,
but she's paying off loans. Inherently, there's a fault in

(01:09):
the law. Don't you think of me? The costs, even
when awarded, never cover the bill. My question is why
not is justice really served or seen to be done.
If you can be victorious, if you can defend your name,
your honor, your reputation, and still go broke, doesn't that
mean the deepest pocket's always going to triumph? The state v. Salmon,
a sport via coach, a university via microbiologist. It's one

(01:31):
thing to settle, Yes, it saves court time. But do
you settle because you would be broke if you didn't.
Is being broke and right worth it? Is launching a
crowdfunding bit acceptable when you didn't do anything wrong? Is
the justice system serving as properly when even the victorious
and the validated aren't really winners? For more from the
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(01:53):
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