Monday, February 20, 2006
The price of Justice
This is a very long story, which could get very boring, so I'm going to tell it in its abridge form as much as I can.
On the evening of 15 December 2005, a young man reversed a delivery truck into my car. We exchanged details, but I allowed the young man's mother to give me her details rather than insisting on having the driver's details. I was informed that they had insurance, but didn't have the presence of mind to ask for their residential address.
The trouble started the very next day. It became evident that the accident had caused much greater damage than first anticipated: My car was overheating, and only when I took it to a mechanic the following day was it confirmed that my radiator had been damaged in the accident. After my girlfriend finally got hold of the driver's mother in order to obtain her son's particulars to fill in an accident report and not receiving the details as promised, the mother said that she would rather leave insurance out of it.
Many telephone conversations later (and even a trip to the mechanic's shop on the part of the driver's mother), and I have still received no money to repair my car. I paid the account for my radiator out of my own pocket eventually, and the damage to my bumper and grill has not been repaired.
Finally, after one last phone call things got ugly, I managed to track down the owner of the vehicle instrumental in the accident, got some information from him and went to enquire about legal aid at the university I attend. There I seemed to be getting somewhere, until a senior advocate informed the law students that were working with me that because my father technically owns the car (even though I maintain and drive it and my mom insures it), he has to institute the claim, which means that the university legal aid probably won't consider my case. But its all up in the air for the moment... Again.
You see, no-one is able to tell you anything about what it costs to take someone to small claims court. What does a summons cost? What does it cost to track down the woman and her son (because they're currently busy moving)? The amount of money they owe me is trivial in comparison to the typical costs of a court case.
I'm disillusioned. The law is there to protect the upright, provided the upright can foot the bill, or have a sufficiently lucrative case that those involved in aiding the upright may be compensated.
I'm not against lawyers making money. I too, am a professional in training. I too would like to make silly money after my 4 years of study (for decent work, of course). I understand that they can't work for free, but there just seems to be no system in place for people in South Africa to take on people that owe them less than R10 000.
The fact is, without the money I'm owed, I can't fix the cosmetic damage to my car (for awhile at least). But in this system, is it worth the effort, the emotional energy and worst of all, the money, to seek justice?
On the evening of 15 December 2005, a young man reversed a delivery truck into my car. We exchanged details, but I allowed the young man's mother to give me her details rather than insisting on having the driver's details. I was informed that they had insurance, but didn't have the presence of mind to ask for their residential address.
The trouble started the very next day. It became evident that the accident had caused much greater damage than first anticipated: My car was overheating, and only when I took it to a mechanic the following day was it confirmed that my radiator had been damaged in the accident. After my girlfriend finally got hold of the driver's mother in order to obtain her son's particulars to fill in an accident report and not receiving the details as promised, the mother said that she would rather leave insurance out of it.
Many telephone conversations later (and even a trip to the mechanic's shop on the part of the driver's mother), and I have still received no money to repair my car. I paid the account for my radiator out of my own pocket eventually, and the damage to my bumper and grill has not been repaired.
Finally, after one last phone call things got ugly, I managed to track down the owner of the vehicle instrumental in the accident, got some information from him and went to enquire about legal aid at the university I attend. There I seemed to be getting somewhere, until a senior advocate informed the law students that were working with me that because my father technically owns the car (even though I maintain and drive it and my mom insures it), he has to institute the claim, which means that the university legal aid probably won't consider my case. But its all up in the air for the moment... Again.
You see, no-one is able to tell you anything about what it costs to take someone to small claims court. What does a summons cost? What does it cost to track down the woman and her son (because they're currently busy moving)? The amount of money they owe me is trivial in comparison to the typical costs of a court case.
I'm disillusioned. The law is there to protect the upright, provided the upright can foot the bill, or have a sufficiently lucrative case that those involved in aiding the upright may be compensated.
I'm not against lawyers making money. I too, am a professional in training. I too would like to make silly money after my 4 years of study (for decent work, of course). I understand that they can't work for free, but there just seems to be no system in place for people in South Africa to take on people that owe them less than R10 000.
The fact is, without the money I'm owed, I can't fix the cosmetic damage to my car (for awhile at least). But in this system, is it worth the effort, the emotional energy and worst of all, the money, to seek justice?
