Aunt’s corner

Dear Aunt Silvia,My only brother was recently involved in a very freaky accident and I don’t know where to go and file the complaint. While on his way from school one evening he fell into a pit hole and his back was severely injured and he is now on a wheel chair for unknown number of days or years to come. We know which company the pit hole belongs to. Should we first lodge in a complaint straight to the company, or should we get a legal counsellor to do that for us? It hurts me because my bother has been reduced to a vegetable because of some negligence on somebody’s part.Aurora. Dear Aurora,I am sorry about your brother’s mishap. What happened to your brother is exactly what happened to my aunt a few years ago. She fell into a pit hole of a well known company who at the time were doing some works on the roadside. The hole was left unattended to and neither was it covered. This resulted to her back injuries and even now ten years down the line she is still walking with the aid of crutches. This was a young woman with five young children and a widow at the same time. So you can imagine what my family has gone through to be able to maintain my aunt and her children, despite our own heavy responsibilities. Sometimes I blame my family; I included not to have taken proper action at the time when the accident occurred, even though most people we talked to discouraged us, saying that the company will not compensate her, we still should have gone to the concerned authorities to seek legal redress. Don’t make the mistake we made, take courage and seek legal advice when it is still early, I think there is a period of time that the law stipulates about filing accident cases. If this period of time lapses then you will be forced by the law to drop the charges as required. May be if you lodge in a complaint, many more who have been affected this way will come out to make sure that all those companies doing works on the road side take full responsibility when they leave dangerous pit holes open at night oblivious to many people. About a month ago we rescued a young man who had fallen in a pit hole just on the pavement. So you can imagine how many people fall into these holes day in day out. Whatever the outcome, your brother’s life is the most important, try not to lose focus on taking care of him to winning the case. After all, whether you win or not you must find a way to help him lead his life as normal as possible. Ends