On our Amsterdam law firm you can hear the patience time bomb ticking at clients. The emotional explosion that eventually follows is palpable. Why wait months for a response, expert medical opinion or hearing? Clients experience the wait as opposition, lack of support, understanding, respect.
Time is really ticking away for my clients, including the impact of waiting on their life's happiness.
Sinterklaas, not zwartepiet
I am not writing this blog to blame anyone. Together we need to figure out ways to save time. I can think of many possibilities.
From wish lists for St. Nicholas, I learned that you are more likely to get what you want if you ask for something real. Something similar to what has been given before.
Good example of an agreement made to avoid unnecessarily testing victims' patience is the Insurers' Association's Business Regulation on Blameless Third Parties. An insurer immediately assumes the settlement of damages of an injured party who did not contribute to the occurrence of a road accident. The insurers involved then work out behind the scenes who actually pays for the damage.
As a personal injury lawyer, I encounter more blameless third parties in my practice. Clients in whom it is clear that they are not at fault for their accident, where involved parties only point fingers at each other and do not extend a helping hand to my client. Like Mr. T., where surgery had been performed in the wrong hemisphere of the brain due to a mistake by the surgeon or operating robot. Or Mr. S., who fell into a hole on a construction site after which various parties involved wanted to blame each other.
Shortlist
St. Nicholas wish lists have also taught me that if you ask for a lot, you don't know what you'll get. And I know exactly what I want. So on my shortlist is one wish.
Best Association of Insurers,
Would like to receive from you (future) injured parties a Business Regulation Blameless Third Party for industrial accidents with more than one potentially liable party. That conditions apply to this, as with the already existing Business Regulation, is self-evident.
Based on the liability law the employee is rarely at fault for causing the accident, and often at least one party will be liable. These types of accidents can lead to years of litigation, when the question is not if, but who should compensate the damages. Damages increasingly arise for self-employed workers without disability insurance. The time pressure experienced by these injured parties due to the loss of their income can itself be disabling.
Zou u dan ook – zo snel mogelijk 😉 – willen nadenken over deze bedrijfsregeling? Tegen tijdwinst kan damages not on.
Sincerely,
Christa
If you have questions about this blog, please contact the author, Christa Wijnakker.