Open question:
If Novosel went to the court in November and made a motion to expedite, what exactly was he expediting? He had to have known that no evidence was filed and the defendants were not contacted in English and informed of their rights per Croatian law. Proof of service would be required by the court in order to proceed, right?
I understand that lawyers, especially in emotionally charged cases like these are often pressured by their clients to do stupid things and Lloyd himself admitted to placing this pressure on his “legal team”.
This is where the Croatian code of conduct for whatever bar association Novosel belongs to applies. It a lawyer is asked by his client to proceed in a way that would only hurt the case, he is bound by the code of conduct and basic professionalism to withdraw as counsel if his client insists on this course of action.
Novosel should have informed Lloyd that he would not push for expedition unless the evidence was supplied and defendants served, payable by Lloyd.