LEGAL EAGLE: Parties in court proceedings are usually limited to those directly involved in the case - intervenors are additions granted permission to join

Intervenors are additional people that have been granted permission by court to join proceedings.

I have just been contacted by the local authority and they have given me some papers and told me to get a solicitor and attend a hearing in relation to my brother’s three-year-old son, my nephew.

Last month it was my daughter’s birthday so I had a garden party and hired a bouncy castle. As the day went on the children were getting more hyper and excited and my nephew had fallen out of the bouncy castle onto the grass. It didn’t look like he had any injuries and we were able to comfort him and after around 15 mins he had settled and even fell asleep. However once my nephew woke up, he started screaming again and it seemed that he could not move his left leg as much as his right leg. As my brother had drank some beer, I drove my brother and nephew to the hospital.

I am told that family court proceedings were issued as my nephew had a fractured femur and the doctor has said that this must have been an inflicted injury. I did not see my nephew fall out and I was only told that a few of the children had bumped into each other.

I have never been to court before and I am told that I am now an intervenor. I do not know what this means and I am scared that I am going to be blamed for my nephew’s injury.

I am sorry to hear that the local authority have not given you much information and that you feel this way about court.

It appears you have been joined to the court proceedings as you are someone that can help understand what happened to your nephew. This does not automatically mean that you are being accused of intentionally injuring your nephew, but the Court will want to determine what, if any, involvement or knowledge you have of how he sustained his injury.

Parties in court proceedings are usually limited to those directly involved in the case for example the parents of the children, social services and solicitors. Intervenors are additional people that have been granted permission by court to join proceedings and are often only involved in the limited part of the case that affects them.

You need to immediately seek legal advice and you may also be eligible for legal aid.

If you would like to make an appointment at one of our offices to discuss this further, then please do not hesitate to contact us on 0191 565 3112 or email [email protected]. For further information please visit www.benhoarebell.co.uk