Thursday, May 21, 2020

Will the court decide that Declan and I should live under the threat to life of a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice rather than the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs? (WITH UPDATE 26/01/21)

With the background as provided above, the Heaveys now are facing an eviction notice from their landlord, Peabody Trust housing association. The tenancy is a flat, which falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Pardoning my intrusion into English law, but in fairness there does not appear to be any reason for the eviction, relying apparently entirely on the discretion of the landlord.

Joseph R. Carvalko, Esq., American lawyer (full letter below)

Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar.
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).


The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice. The hearing of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's application to have Declan's claim struck out before Senior Circuit Judge Marc Dight CBE has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.

Claimant: Declan Heavey
Defendant: St Mungo's

What the issue in these court proceedings boils down to is whether the court will decide that Declan and I should live in a destabilised tenancy that poses a threat to his life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights, simply because the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team in North London (TST North) will not even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs. The court must surely find that this is not proportionate and lawful.

3 April: Declan's claim against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's before Senior Circuit Judge Marc Dight CBE has been adjourned to a date to be fixed. St Mungo's TST is still unwilling to even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs (WITH UPDATE 21/05/20)

In his fight for a reasonable degree of justice, this is the "To whom it may concern" letter by Joseph Carvalko that Declan will file with the court in due course:

In the Matter of: Mr. and Mrs. Declan Heavey

To whom it may concern:

I am a U.S. attorney writing to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Declan Heavey, publishing colleagues of mine, in their current struggle to avoid an eviction in London. Permit me to introduce myself and summarize the Heaveys' predicament.

For four decades I have practiced law in the U.S. I also have spent many years teaching law, where currently I am Adjunct Professor of Law, Science and Technology, Quinnipiac University, School of Law. I also hold other positions in academia and professional organizations such as Chairman, Yale Technology and Ethics working group, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, member of the Community Bioethics Forum, Yale School of Medicine, and a member of Publications Board, IEEE Transactions on the Implications of Technology in Society.

In my various roles I have written many books and articles, this last point connecting me to the Heaveys, who are engaged in an important project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., population, climate change, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a nonprofit company limited by guarantee, their main publication, found at the website, Church and State, has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it, 16 of whom signed on as Honorary Associates. I might add that the list of 276 associates also includes 10 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Science, 12 knighted professors. There are contributions to the site by six members of the House of Lords, 29 knighted professors.

The Heaveys have aided my publication efforts, vis-à-vis articles about bioethics and technology law, principally the role these fields play in conserving humanity in an era of hyper-technological progress. Mine is not a particularly controversial topic, but the Heaveys have courageously undertaken to call attention to other subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. The Heaveys have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in "threats to Mr. Heavey's life," and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

With the background as provided above, the Heaveys now are facing an eviction notice from their landlord, Peabody Trust housing association. The tenancy is a flat, which falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Pardoning my intrusion into English law, but in fairness there does not appear to be any reason for the eviction, relying apparently entirely on the discretion of the landlord.

The eviction matter has come before His Honour Senior Circuit Judge Marc Dight at the County Court at Central London. The Court will notify of remote hearing details in due course, when both the legal representative for St. Mungo's (the charity in effective control of the tenancy) and Mr. Heavey would present their positions. Both Mr. Heavey and St. Mungo's had written to the court explaining that an adjournment would be appropriate, and that it is not a matter which could be conducted by telecon due to Mr. Heavey being unrepresented. I might add the Heaveys do not have the funds to hire a solicitor in this matter. The problem as perceived by the Heaveys is that Peabody Trust, under a Section 21, which they fully expect to receive on or about 17 May, will force them to vacate. Vacating would be consequential as they have no means by which they can secure housing at this time.

I appreciate that as we are undergoing the Covid-19 pandemic, so are you, which may present obstacles in representation. However, especially during this pandemic, an eviction, especially into the streets, might well pose an unimaginable threat to the Heaveys' well-being.

Thank you for the opportunity to call your attention to this urgent matter. If you can assist please let me know, or reach out directly to the Heaveys at dheavey@gmail.com.

Very truly yours,

Joseph R. Carvalko, Jr. Esq.

Who can say that Declan does not have opposition?

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Plc (NatWest).


Declan has been dealing with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about the RBS's NatWest since February 2020 following the non-payment of his salary by standing order. The Financial Ombudsman has effectively found in a final decision in this case that the Executive Case Manager at RBS wouldn't have been reasonably aware when she paid Declan compensation on 17 February 2020 - in recognition of issues he had experienced in setting up two replacement standing orders on the Network for Church Monitoring account - that there had been some error previously made by NatWest in setting up the replacement standing order for the payment of his salary. Declan's complaint about the subsequent cancellation of the standing order without his knowledge or consent that resulted in the non-payment of his salary on 24 February 2020 was passed by the investigator to an ombudsman, who is the former Team Manager at FOS and has held roles at Alliance and Leicester (now Santander). Below is a link to Declan's response to the ombudsman's decision not to uphold his complaint. FOS has told him that he can expect the decision to be published on their website next month.

FOS investigator: "NatWest have said although the cancellation was processed on the 12th February 2020, it wasn't uploaded for processing until later – so it didn't actually cancel until the 19 February 2020."


26 January 2021: NatWest Bank: Declan responds to the Financial Ombudsman's final decision for their website. Pixsy continues to chase payment for the past non-commercial use of one image on the Church and State website

Updated in this blog post on 26 January 2021




Our list of 287 Honorary Associates includes 17 Nobel Prize laureates, 11 US National Medal of Science laureates and 12 knighted professors notwithstanding the excessive targeting of these three categories of emails in particular.

http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/

"Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty

at 12:26 pm