Colette Hunt represented a cyclist who was a member of the British Cycling Federation (for whom the firm is the panel firm in the Channel Islands) who was injured when a motorist drove onto the wrong side of the road and into his path, knocking him off his bicycle can causing multiple injuries, but fortunately none of these were very serious.  His claim settled after the report of the medical expert was disclosed to the Defendant's Insurers. In addition to receiving compensation for his injuries, he recovered the cost of replacing his damaged bicycle and various other personal items and equipment that were damaged in the collision.

Colette Hunt acted for the mother of a 5 year old girl who sustained a nasty injury to her foot when swimming at the Aqua splash pool in St Helier, whilst over on a family day trip from Guernsey during the summer holidays. One of the tiles on the side of the pool was defective and/or came loose and before any of the pool staff noted this or took any action to warn or protect the pool users, the child was injured.  The Insurers for the pool settled the claim before it was necessary to litigate.   

We act for the Polish mother of a Jersey-born child. The mother was unmarried and the Jersey born father, fearing that the mother would return to Poland with the child and remove all contact, obtained injunctions stopping the mother removing the child (then 3 weeks old) from the jurisdiction of the Royal Court until contact and parental responsibility has been resolved and agreed. Mother and child were homeless and residing in the Woman's Refuge with no income, no rights to claim benefits due to lack of residential status and no family or friends for support. The mother was permitted by the Court to return to Poland, taking the child with her, for an interim period over Christmas and New Year and the case was adjourned initially until January, then March and now the final hearing is set for June when it is hoped that the child's health will enable the mother to return to Jersey for the final hearing.  Issues regarding cultural differences and upbringing and how the best interests of the child were served are all relevant in this case, yet to be finally determined.  Contact issues and the impact of the anticipated distance between the respective parents' homes impact significantly on the Court's determination of the application to permanently remove the child from the jurisdiction.

Unusually in private law proceedings we act for minor children in contact proceedings receiving instructions from their guardian. In accordance with best practice the children have been visited regularly. A feature of the case has been intransigent views held by some of the children about contact and their resident parent's attitude to the guardian. An application to recuse the guardian was successfully defended.

We act for the mother. The case was very sensitive since the mother suffers from bi-polar affective disorder. Taking instructions was difficult due to the client's mental health issues which on occasions had to take place at St Saviour's Hospital. It was always accepted by the Minister that the neglect and harm suffered by the child was caused by our client's mental health issues. Accordingly, ensuring that our client received the best possible medical intervention was vital in the interests of not only her, but the child, and that all appropriate agencies engaged to provide the best possible outcome. This was also a case where the child's first placement was eventually found to not be in her best interests, in that she was withdrawn and being picked on (and allegedly hit) by one of the birth children. The mother's concerns were not apparently investigated or taken seriously and it was only with persistence on the mother's part, and a reluctance to continue on the part of the carer, that this matter was fully considered. The subsequent placement was significantly better. The case involved careful interaction with a vulnerable adult, consideration of mental health issues and the use of experts.

Assisted clients at the Child Youth and Community Tribunal in relation to issues of Residence, Contact and Parental Responsibility resulting from truancy and intervention by the States of Guernsey Education Board.

Advised with freehold Real Property situated in Alderney upon intestacy involving applications relating to the deceased's Real Property and dealing with the cessation of life interests which revealed the intestacy of a pre-deceased relative involving further applications to resolve outstanding matters.

Believed to be the first case in Jersey where the court was required to decide whether the child was competent to instruct a lawyer directly and the procedural issues if they were. We assessed the child client as being competent and when it became clear that the child's wishes diverged from the guardian, made the appropriate application to the court. This was granted and we continued to represent the child client, receiving instructions directly from her. The guardian remained in her post, having a different function to that of a lawyer, and was granted independent legal representation. This was a particularly sensitive case since there was professional expert evidence before the court that such independent access to a lawyer was not in the child's best interest on the basis of a welfare test. The case established the correct test is an objective one and a lower test than for medical competence but the Jersey judiciary have added a welfare gloss to the English approach. The case also included applications for Secure Accommodation Orders and their extension.

Our team has been, and continues to be, heavily engaged in advising and assisting the executor of the insolvent estate of the late Duncan Hickman in connection with the estate's administration and the claims of its many and various creditors. The matter is bristling with points, including novel questions of law. For instance, in the absence of settled law on the question the case has given rise to the formulation of a common-law procedure for the administration of insolvent estates.

We act for the father. There was very significant expert evidence, and the case was 'split' to enable there to be separate fact finding hearings. The main issue in the case was the parents' drug use, closely followed by concerns about (historic) domestic violence. The child was found to have ingested heroin and methadone, by a hair strand test. Expert evidence was called as to how the drugs could have been ingested since there was no direct evidence of deliberate administration. This is an uncertain area of scientific knowledge and unfortunately no clear expert guidance could be obtained, despite the engagement of highly expert scientific witnesses. The case also was one where there were concurrent relevant criminal proceedings and where there were a number of disclosure issues not only within the care proceedings but also in relation to the flow of information between the care and the criminal proceedings. The birth of a second child during the continuation of the initial proceedings, caused new proceedings for this child. Interesting legal issues arise in this situation as to whether the necessary threshold is passed when the second child is born into the very protective environment created by the first set of proceedings - the answer, generally, is 'yes'.

Advised and assisted Saudi royal family in relation to obtaining release of asset situated in Guernsey from asset-holders following obtaining Guernsey Grant of Letters of Administration in the case of an intestacy and following a significant period during which the funds were withheld by the asset-holders.

Advised and assisted Florida based law firm to obtain Guernsey Probate for non-resident high net worth deceased socialite with a history in film with Guernsey asset.

Acting for the husband in divorce proceedings where, unusually, issues of the respective party's conduct was pleaded as being relevant to the financial outcome. The court would have had to compare and contrast a criminal conviction for a serious sexual assault on an adult third party with alleged financial misconduct comprising taking control of a business, allegedly by fraud, which subsequently failed and attempts to sell matrimonial assets in that party's sole name. This case involved injunctions to protect assets and an application to remove the children from Jersey.

We acted for the mother of a child abducted from Jersey to Italy. It was an application by way of injunctive proceedings in the Royal Court seeking orders for immediate return, in tandem with an application under the Hague Convention via the Crown Officers. The father returned to Jersey in May 2010 without the child and was imprisoned for contempt of court but still failed to arrange for the return the of the child. After approximately 5 weeks the application under the Hague Convention was heard in the Italian courts and an order was made for immediate return of the child to the care of the mother. The mother had travelled to Italy for an emotional reunion with the child, who was received back into her care the following day. The father then made an application to the Family Registrar for contact, inevitably resisted by the mother. The outcome of those contested proceedings was that the Court found the father still to be a significant risk to the child that his application for contact was refused.