Couple claim lawyer cheated them

A couple, whose lost their daughters in a landslide in Hulu Selangor in 2008, claimed that they had been cheated by a legal firm and were now facing bankruptcy.

Azizah Madon, 46, claimed that a lawyer from the legal firm approached her to offer legal advice after finding that the landslide had also damaged her bungalow.

"The lawyer advised us to file a suit against the housing developer, the Selangor government and three others, despite the developer having agreed to pay compensation.

"Before the suit was filed, we had asked the lawyer about the payment because we were left with only the clothes on our backs and could not afford his service.

"The lawyer said it was alright and he wanted to help us," she said yesterday.

However, she claimed that after the suit, which sought damages of RM1.1 million, was filed, the lawyer demanded her to pay the legal cost.

Azizah said the suit was settled in an out of court settlement.

She claimed that during the negotiation for the out of court settlement, which went on for a year, the lawyer was not involved.

"After my husband and I received the compensation payment of RM850,000, the lawyer filed a suit against us at the Sessions Court by submitting a Warrant of Act which we had never seen or signed," she said, adding that she had lodged a police report on the warrant.

She claimed that in April this year the lawyer auctioned off their household goods and had also filed a notice to declare her and her husband a bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Hulu Selangor Member of Parliament P.Kamalanathan called on the Bar Council and the police to investigate the case.

"Now, the couple is subjected to a bankruptcy suit by the very lawyer that had promised to bring them justice," he said.

On Nov 30, 2008, sisters Noratirah Roslan, 16, and nine-year-old Nurul Intan Sarina, 9, were killed when they were buried in a landslide which damaged their house at Lot 110, Jalan Belida 1,Ulu Yam Perdana at 5.30am.