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Irish Law: 7 months ago, I attended the City of Dublin Circuit Court on 3 occassions as a witness to an accident which occurred some years earlier. The case was settled. As I lost 3 days wages due to attendance, I asked the Solicitor at whose request I attended for re-imbursement. I have yet to receive same. Do I have a legal entitlement to re-imbursement?
Already Tried: I wrote to the Solicitor requesting re - imbursement 2 months ago. I also emailed him last week.
1. There is a legal entitlement to witness expenses which generally amount to €25 per day of attendance at court. However, any reimbursement of wages occurs only by means of agreement. There is no automatic legal entitlement to reimbursement of wages. Accordingly, should you sue for the 3 days lost wages, the onus will be placed on you to show that there was an agreement to reimburse you any loss of wages suffered by attending court. It is common for parties to a court case to agree to reimburse wages where the person concerned is a key witness. However, this reimbursement comes out of the pocket of the parties and there is no system of reimbursement of wages unless agreed with one of the parties or the solicitor for one of the parties.
I had previously attended the Court for the same case and was paid by the solicitor in question for those days.
Experience: Barrister 17 years experience
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2. In those circumstances where a course of practice arose between you that the solicitor would pay your wages lost, then you can sue successfully in law for the loss of wages suffered.
I had previously attended the court for the same case and was paid by the solicitor in question for those days, we had a verbal agreement regarding same. does the fact that I had been paid previously not support this fact.
3. Yes, the fact you were paid previously means you had an agreement your wages would be reimbursed. This applied to the subsequent hearings as well and that is why you can successfully sue for reimbursement of wages should you not be paid.