Closure of whole or part of complaint
77C Closure of whole or part of complaint
At any stage after receipt of a complaint, the Commissioner may close the complaint without further consideration of its merits for any of the following reasons to the extent they are applicable:
the complaint is vexatious, misconceived, frivolous or lacking in substance;
the complainant has not responded, or has responded inadequately, to a request for further information or has unreasonably failed to cooperate in the investigation or conciliation of the complaint;
the subject‑matter of the complaint has been or is already being investigated, whether by the Commissioner or another authority;
the subject‑matter of the complaint would be better investigated or dealt with by police or another investigatory or law enforcement body;
the subject‑matter of the complaint is the subject of civil proceedings, except so far as it is a disciplinary matter;
the complaint is not one that the Commissioner has power to deal with;
the Commissioner is satisfied that it is otherwise in the public interest to close the complaint.
A complaint may be closed under this section without an investigation or without completing an investigation.
The Commissioner is not required to give a complainant, a legal practitioner, a former legal practitioner, a law practice or the Legal Services
Commission an opportunity to be heard or make a submission to the Commissioner before determining whether or not to close a complaint under this section.
The power to close a complaint under this section extends to closure of part of a complaint.
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.