The case continues

Raymond’s case against Biffa regarding his accident over 4 years ago is now in the hands of the Court. A meeting was held between the parties to decide upon a timetable for the remaining witness statements and medical reports. It is fairly likely that a result will be achieved by negotiation otherwise if we wait for a court hearing it could go into the middle of next year. It would be a real load off Raymond’s mind if it could be settled soon but it will have to be settled for a figure which is satisfactory to him.

The trouble is that we have heard from other people who have had to make claims against big organizations, that the settlement figures have been ludicrously low. I hope and pray that is not the case with Raymond, not just as far as the money is concerned, but I don’t want him to be bitter about what is happening. He still suffers as a result of the accident and some of the pain he is now getting in his lower back seems to stem from injuries received at that time.

Raymmond has no plans to retire and wants to go on running the courses but it is not so easy as it was before the accident. Above all I think he wants to be vindicated. It is after all a black and white case but it is very difficult to get justice unless you have a lot of money. In other countries such as Australia and New Zealand they don’t make victims go through all of this stress, some of which is as bad as the original accident. There are straightforward no-blame compensation payouts which would save people having to wait years for compensation.

If you don’t have stacks of money here you either have no recourse to justice or you have to accept a no-win no-fee solicitor. In the latter case it pays the legal team not to bring the case to an immediate closure because their fees accrue the longer the case takes and they make their money not so much in the percentage of the compensation, but in the fees for their legal services which are part of the costs. We have now received the timetable as a result of the recent meeting and can only hope that this ordeal will soon be over.