Judges give a plaintiff in a proceeding without a lawyer the benefit of the doubt, but the plaintiff must still have a valid underlying cause of action.
This was not a valid cause of action, the judge ruled.
Earlier Supreme Court decisions have made it clear that "attorney error" does not qualify as a valid "cause" for a failure of this kind.
However, if such definitions weren't clearly explained at the time, customers may have a valid cause of complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
It may give assistance to partner, which gives the opponents valid cause for complaint.
It was not really valid cause for suspicion; Lazarus had been dead for a long time, and probably the record-keeping had been sketchier in those early days.
But it does not follow that the only valid cause is the truth of the content of the belief.
The court found that mutilation or misrepresentation is a valid cause of action under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, a federal act pertaining to unfair competition.
The standard of care is important because it determines the level of negligence required to state a valid cause of action.
It is nevertheless a valid cause for concern.