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Stuart Usher
Stuart Usher has fought to get his case to Court for many years without success. His fight is mainly with Brodies WS, a prominent Edinburgh law firm. The Usher family were generous benefactors to Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries – particularly to the city of Edinburgh. One of the more notable gifts that Edinburgh received from the Usher family was the Usher Hall in Lothian Road.Stuart, quite rightly in our view, is not prepared to let the notorious Edinburgh “Law” of Brodies WS and the Edinburgh legal mafia get away with their various involvements in the pillaging of his family’s wealth over the last hundred years. His story can be described as “The Fall of the House of Usher” and has been referred to in these terms in the media over the last few years.
Furthermore, Channel Four broadcast a documentary entitled “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Thursday 12th September 2002 (“Cutting Edge” series) on his fight against Brodies WS.
Stuart recommends all people, who have fallen victim to Crooked Lawyers and the corrupt Scottish legal system to join him and other victims of these despicable people and organisations to fight for justice and defeat them under the banner of SACL.
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Aristocrat abandons £45m claim
by Jeanette Oldham
AN ARISTOCRAT whose family were once among the richest in Scotland has
abandoned a court case against a law firm he believes mismanaged his
ancestral estate. Stuart Usher, a descendant of the house of Usher, launched a £45 million claim against the Edinburgh law firm Brodies, the trustees of the estate, in March 2002, claiming it failed in its duty of care to the beneficiaries. The estate was once worth £365 million. The action was lodged at Jedburgh Sheriff Court by semi-professional litigants, Martin Frost and Andrew McNamara, on Mr Usher’s behalf.
Last night, Mr Usher confirmed that the case has been withdrawn, but insisted he was not giving up his battle against the law firm. He said that, on the basis of new information received, Mr Frost and Mr McNamara would be launching a "new and more far-reaching action" against Brodies and their associates.
He added: "The new information has prompted other members of the Usher family to agree to assign their claims also to Mr Frost and Mr McNamara. Thus, Martin Frost shortly will be travelling to South Africa and Argentina to collect Usher family documents."
Brodies welcomed the development and said it would be applying to the court for its costs to be covered. "This was a nonsense action, which sensibly has been abandoned," a spokesman said.
The Ushers founded the Usher Vaux distillery in Edinburgh and made their fortune exporting whisky in the early 20th century. In 1962, Sir Stuart Usher, Mr Usher’s uncle, died without leaving a will.
The estate passed to Sir Stuart’s two sons, both of whom had Down’s syndrome, so the running of the house of Usher fell to trustees at the law firm Mackenzie & Black, later renamed Brodies. In 1994, they decided to sell the estate to developers, with the proceeds distributed among the family.
The undisclosed sum was a tiny proportion of what Mr Usher had expected. He, his wife and their two children moved into a small house outside Jedburgh and he says that he was forced to sell hotdogs to make ends meet. In particular, Mr Usher said that Brodies should have found a way to keep the 7,000-acre Wells estate and ancestral home, in Roxburghshire, in family hands.
In 2001, he issued a writ against Brodies for £365 million, which was dismissed. He then launched the £45 million claim, saying he felt that had more chance of success. He has had 11 complaints dismissed by the Law Society of Scotland and the legal ombudsman.
A spokesman for Brodies said: " We hope today’s outcome will help him to realise that lawyers are not responsible for his position.
"Mr Usher has put his unsupported claims before the Law Society of Scotland, the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament and the sheriff court ... we hope he can now move on."
Aristocrat fails with appeal to keep gun
by William Chisholm
AN ARISTOCRAT who told a television interviewer he was tempted to shoot
solicitors will pose an ever increasing risk as his fury and
frustration grows, according to a sheriff. Stuart Usher, a member of the once powerful and wealthy Usher dynasty, had his 12-bore shotgun and his shotgun certificate seized by police after the head of a leading firm of solicitors complained to police that members of his staff feared for their safety as a result of Mr Usher’s perceived threats of violence.
During last September’s Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary The Fall of the House of Usher, Mr Usher said he would be prepared to borrow a blunderbuss to "go and nail a few lawyers in Edinburgh, the ones that did us in particular".
Mr Usher challenged the decision by Lothian and Borders Police to revoke his shotgun certificate at a hearing in Jedburgh Sheriff Court last month. But in a written judgement issued at the weekend Sheriff Ian Inglis rejected the appeal - a decision which has incensed the man who helped found Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers.
Sheriff Inglis, who heard evidence from senior police officers and from Alistair Campbell, the chairman of Edinburgh law firm Brodies, says he had no doubt that Mr Usher should not be allowed to possess a shotgun because of the likely danger to public safety.
Mr Usher claims the loss of the £45 million family wealth and estates is due to mismanagement by various lawyers, including Brodies, who acted for the Usher family for several decades. Following the TV documentary Mr Usher wrote to Mr Campbell challenging him to a "trial by combat" in Princes Street Gardens.
Mr Usher said: "Sheriff Inglis took no cognisance of the fact that not one of Brodies’ partners, associates or staff - around 400 people in total - were prepared to make a statement to police to the effect they felt endangered by myself."