Parents who lost fight to keep daughter alive handed £50k legal bill

Parents who lost High Court fight with NHS trust to stop medics turning off their brain-damaged daughter’s life support are handed £50,000 legal bill after being sued by the solicitors for unpaid invoices

• Abraham and Chaya Fixsler battled for the life of their daughter Alta, two 
• Read: Father’s plea as brain-damaged toddler to lose life support imminently

A couple who fought a tragic court battle to prevent medics turning off their daughter’s life support machine have been handed a £50,000 bill after being sued by their solicitors.

Abraham and Chaya Fixsler battled their local NHS trust in court in a high-profile case over the future treatment of their two-year-old, Alta, who suffered brain damage at birth.

Medics said further life-sustaining treatment was not in Alta’s best interests, and despite her parents’ objections, a judge in 2021 ruled that treatment should be stopped.

Alta died in a hospice in October 2021 after her parents lost their High Court fight with the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, which were responsible for her care. 

This week the grieving couple were handed a £50,000 bill after being sued by their solicitors at Central London County Court.

Abraham and Chaya Fixsler (pictured) battled their local NHS trust in court in a high-profile case over the future treatment of their two-year-old, Alta, who suffered brain damage at birth

Alta died in a hospice in October 2021, despite her parents’ efforts to keep her alive

Legal firm Harris Da Silva had been instructed by the couple to help them with part of Alta’s case, but they failed to pay two invoices in July 2021 totalling £38,497, the firm’s barrister Thiaza Khan said.

The couple, from Salford, claimed the bills were ‘excessive’ and alleged that the standard of service they received was not good enough.

Their solicitors’ firm sued and won a judgment in their favour for £41,684.14, the invoices plus interest and costs, which has now been confirmed after an appeal before Judge Alan Johns KC.

However, the couple were also ordered to pay £9,000 towards the firm’s costs of responding to the Central London County Court appeal, taking their total bill to £50,684.14.

Alta was born with severe brain damage and lawyers representing the NHS Trust in 2021 said there was ‘no prospect of her ever getting better’. 

READ MORE: ‘There is no reason to kill Alta, she does not need to die’: Father’s heartbreaking plea for brain-damaged two-year-old girl whose parents’ staunch belief in the sanctity of life is being pitted against NHS doctors

They asked the High Court to decide whether it was in her best interests to withdraw life-sustaining treatment and put her on a palliative care regime.

But her parents said their Jewish faith meant they could not agree to steps which would lead to her death and wanted her taken to Israel to be treated by doctors who share their religious beliefs.

At the end of the case, Mr Justice McDonald found it was in Alta’s ‘best interests’ that her treatment be withdrawn, as otherwise she could suffer even more.

After Alta’s death and the end of the tragic battle, Harris Da Silva launched a claim against the couple for non-payment of two invoices earlier in 2021 for previous work on the case.

A default judgment was entered against them for the full sum of the invoices, plus interest and court costs, and they failed to have that set aside in a hearing last November.

But this week their lawyers argued on appeal that the judgment should be overturned because Harris Da Silva’s case had been served on them at their Salford address, when they were recuperating in Israel following Alta’s death.

They also claimed that the judgment should be quashed because they still had a right to challenge the size of the bills which the firm provided them with.

But giving judgment, Judge Johns rejected the accusation that the firm had reason to believe the couple were not in the UK when the case was filed against them.

Emails which the firm received suggested they were away recuperating temporarily, rather than having actually left the UK permanently, he said.

Judge Johns added they had not taken the opportunity to question any specific elements of the firm’s bills at the time that they were received.

This week the grieving parents of Alta were handed a £50,000 bill after being sued by their solicitors at Central London County Court

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (pictured) were responsible for Alta’s care. Medics said further life-sustaining treatment was not in her best interests

‘The two bills relied on by Harris Da Silva have each been accompanied by a detailed report setting out the time spent on each item and the hourly rates,’ he added. 

‘There has been no specific challenge to those items. The witness statement of Mr Fixsler said only that the fees were excessive.

‘There is therefore no prospect of this claim in the amount of the two bills being successfully defended.

‘As to the suggestion of negligence, there was no real evidence at all or any particulars offered in support of that suggestion.

‘All that was said in the witness statement of Mr Fixsler was that Harris Da Silva’s services didn’t meet their expectations and their standard of care fell short.

‘This suggestion also lacks the necessary conviction to form a proper basis for resisting judgment.’

Their appeal having been dismissed, the Fixslers now have to pay their former solicitors’ bills plus interest, costs of the original case and of this week’s appeal, a total of £50,684.14.

For Harris Da Silva, Ms Khan said the firm had had to take action because its reputation was at stake.

The firm had undertaken its work with ‘diligence,’ working free of charge at some points during Alta’s case.

The Fixslers were not in court for the hearing, with Judge Johns delivering his judgment via a video link.

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