A lawyer has been granted compensation for damages after a court found that claims made about him before the Advocates and Legal Procurators Committee were ‘malicious and vexatious’.

Lawyer John Bonello had been advising two siblings as prospective purchasers of an apartment in San Gwann.

After paying €10,200 as a deposit on the promise of sale, the final deed never materialised and the would-be purchasers demanded reimbursement of the deposit.  

An exchange of correspondence between lawyers of both parties failed to yield the desired result and consequently, Dr Bonello on behalf of the purchasers instituted proceedings by means of a judicial letter to recover the funds handed over to the Notary who had been tasked with drawing up the final deed.

A precautionary garnishee order for €10,200 was also issued against each one of the five sellers, one of whom was Dr Nicholas Calleja.

Following this court action, the sellers eventually consented to the withdrawal of the funds by Dr Bonello’s clients and the precautionary warrant was revoked.

However, Dr Calleja decided to take the matter further by filing a complaint with the Chamber of Advocates alleging that Dr Bonello had acted abusively and had caused the five sellers great prejudice by the precautionary warrant issued against them.

The Advocates and Legal Procurators Committee concluded that there had been no breach of professional ethics by Dr Bonello.

Dr Bonello in turn decided to take his grievance before the civil courts claiming that Dr Calleja’s complaint had caused him hardship.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, observed that Dr Bonello had indeed been doing his duty as a lawyer by defending the rights of his clients against those who were making life difficult by refusing to return the deposit on the promise of sale.

The lawyer had acted ethically when refusing to answer Dr Calleja’s queries, insisting on speaking to the latter’s lawyer instead as dictated by lawyers’ Code of Ethics.

Declaring Dr Calleja’s complaint as ‘malicious and vexatious’, the court awarded Dr Bonello the sum of €236 by way of damages and a further €1,000 by way of a fine payable by the respondent.