Vodafone responds to Kenneth Makate's objection to its friend of the court application

mylesillidge

mylesillidge

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Twists and turns in R63-billion Please Call Me battle

Vodafone says Please Call Me inventor Kenneth Nkosana Makate mistook its intentions in its application to be admitted as a friend of the court in his case against Vodacom.

According to a Sunday Times report, Vodafone accused Makate of trying to "mute" it to block the court from benefiting from its input.
 
Getting a bit ridiculous? If I was in his shoes and was offered 47 billion, I would have taken it......
 
Friend of the court:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Imagine your son is being bullied and the bully’s parents apply to be “friends of the school” in a hearing
 
oros said:
Getting a bit ridiculous? If I was in his shoes and was offered 47 billion, I would have taken it......
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R47m, which probably doesn't cover his legal fees. The only reason why this is still being pulled along is because in cases like this, the lawyers get a percentage of the win, that's after their minimum fee. Im sure he would be over the moon to have R47m in his pocket for a not-very original idea, but the legal team won't allow it.
 
It doesn't matter how long VC/Vodafone tries to drag out this matter, it is going to cost them a lot of money.

Their own legal fees will be way more than what they offered him.
 
SlowInternet said:
It doesn't matter how long VC/Vodafone tries to drag out this matter, it is going to cost them a lot of money.

Their own legal fees will be way more than what they offered him.
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They employee the attorneys on a day-to-day basis surely? Why would this cost them more than an average day?
 
GhostSixFour said:
They employee the attorneys on a day-to-day basis surely? Why would this cost them more than an average day?
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Unfortunately it doesn't always work like that. The attorneys will charge them a few grand per hour for work done like drawing up pleadings, telephone calls, correspondence, research, doing consultations with clients and counsel, etc.

Counsel charges per hour for any consultations, preparation/research and then a day fee for all court appearances. There will be many hours of consultations and weeks of preparation charged by each advocate. They will use at least 2-3 advocates of which 1 and sometimes 2 will be senior. Advocate fees are very high.

Then you have to take into account how many times this matter was in the different courts like High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and the Con Court.

In the end it all adds up to very big numbers.
 
SlowInternet said:
Unfortunately it doesn't always work like that. The attorneys will charge them a few grand per hour for work done like drawing up pleadings, telephone calls, correspondence, research, doing consultations with clients and counsel, etc.

Counsel charges per hour for any consultations, preparation/research and then a day fee for all court appearances. There will be many hours of consultations and weeks of preparation charged by each advocate. They will use at least 2-3 advocates of which 1 and sometimes 2 will be senior. Advocate fees are very high.

Then you have to take into account how many times this matter was in the different courts like High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and the Con Court.

In the end it all adds up to very big numbers.
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Interesting. Thanks.

Why would a big company like Vodacom have a legal department then? What's the benefit? Just day to day disputes with suppliers and employees?
 
GhostSixFour said:
Interesting. Thanks.

Why would a big company like Vodacom have a legal department then? What's the benefit? Just day to day disputes with suppliers and employees?
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In-house attorneys generally will remove themselves from the Roll in terms of being a practicing Attorney/Advocate. The result is that a non-practicing attorney is not permitted to appear in Courts. You will then brief attorneys and advocates to represent you in litigation matters.

It's a fairly small administrative process to replace yourself on the practicing attorney's roll, assuming that you have no pending disciplinary issues with the regulator.

Edit: Yes, basically the in-house attorneys will deal with all matters relevant where they don't have to put on their "practicing attorney" hat, and then brief outside attorneys to deal with the rest.
 
GhostSixFour said:
Interesting. Thanks.

Why would a big company like Vodacom have a legal department then? What's the benefit? Just day to day disputes with suppliers and employees?
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They basically deal with stuff as mentioned above by the above 2 posters.

Legal costs are high in most matters. I deal with it everyday and the average person in the street cannot afford legal costs.
 
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