The state of affairs

The euphoria of being found ‘not guilty’ and putting Immogo back on line has used off. Time for a sober look at the situation. As a matter of fact, it is not a pretty sight. The trial – which was aimed at me personally - has left me stressed and deflated. And depleted, because lawyers are very expensive and Immogo as a supplementary source of income was closed down.

Looking back, this whole affair has cost me about 10.000 euros in direct lawyer fees. In addition, I should probably count the loss of turnover. Since 2004, Immogo has made about 28.000 euros (gross turnover), of which 17500 in the last year. It was just really warming up, growing faster and faster, when they shut me down.

So if I make a conservative estimate, the housing market turning sour and all, I’ve probably lost another 15000 euros between 02/2007 and 02/2008. This adds up to total estimated damages of 25.000 euros. According to my lawyer, this cannot be claimed anywhere.

The strong arm tactics of a big Federation
What it boils down to, is that a big organisation like the FNAIM, who have an enormous budget and lawyers on fixed retainer, can just go around sending the police after anyone they even vaguely suspect is doing something that might slightly infringe upon their famous ‘Loi Hoguet’. If the public prosecutor sees a case and decides to persecute someone in court, the FNAIM steps forward as ‘public party’ (partie civile) in order to claim damages.

If the attacked person or company is found ‘not guilty’, at least they have slowed him down and made him spend a lot of money on lawyer fees. The FNAIM does not have to pay him any damages. However, if the attacked person is found ‘guilty’ he does have to pay the FNAIM’s lawyer fees, sometime with addition to a fee for damages.

I myself was originally sentenced to pay the FNAIM 1,000 euros lawyer fees plus 1,500 euros in ‘damages’. For what, I don’t know, but I guess they use it for funding other lawsuits.

When I was later found ‘not guilty’ after all, no damages were rewarded to me. I was left empty-handed. I guess I should count myself lucky for being able to reopen Immogo. Unfortunately without any money left for advertising.

Cassation... it’s not over yet!
So far, so bad. But it might get even badder! The FNAIM have asked the court to consider a ‘cassation’. This means a new court is asked to ‘break’ the appeal ruling and send the case back to appeal court. The appeal case will have to be done all over again. So far, only the FNAIM has asked for this. If the public prosecutor does not join them, I will at least never be able to be punished or fined. But I do have to hire a new lawyer again. One of the f=sixty select lawyers allowed to handle ‘cassation’ affairs. My own attorney told me this will set me back another 2500 to 3500 euros.

Then... in the unhappy event the appeal has to be done all over, I’ll have to again pay my defence. I see another 5-10.000 euros in costs coming towards me. Again without possibility to claim damages.

There is a strong possibility that in the end of all this, after 5 years of going in and out of court, I find myself entirely innocent. But broke. Now where’s the justice in that?