Justice

Jan and I have a considerable amount of sympathy for Sue having read her latest blog post <here>.

Normal citizens have very little interaction with the justice system and when they do, the experience is frequently very disappointing. You enter into the process with the expectation you will achieve a fair and just result only to discover the 'system' isn't exactly impartial.

My own opinion is there are four types of people involved with the justice system:

· The legal fraternity who know how it really works.

· The criminals who also know how the system works.

· The wealthy who can afford to pay for justice.

· Your average citizen who rarely has anything to do with the system and who has an almost naïve belief in its infallibility and impartiality.

I've also come to the conclusion those who are members of the legal fraternity tend to favour each other.  I suspect if one party doesn't employ legal representation and the other side does, then the court will usually err on the side of the party with legal representation.

After our own boat builder experience, I would always recommend employing legal representation which specializes in marine law and direct your solicitor to have the matter raised in a specialist marine court. That way the case will be heard by a judge who has an understanding of marine concepts and issues. Moreover marine courts usually have a shorter waiting list.

Taking the case to a civil court will mean the judge will likely have no knowledge of technical marine issues (unless you are extremely lucky and they own a boat). Moreover there is a long backlog of cases to be heard by civil courts which means you wait for ages to get you day whilst the court just wants to get the case completed quickly and move on to the next.

Of course the above opinion is biased as we still have the scars       And we are not alone!

We feel for Sue and Vic