No Justice for Yanks: Part 1- Lawsuit Happy

   One would have thought it would have been a clear-cut case. American born Wallace Dumigan certainly did. After all, his five-year old daughter had been knocked down by an uninsured driver who had been driving at 45 mph in a 30mph zone. Furthermore, when the driver was caught, he was breathalysed and found to be double the legal drink-drive limit. In Wallace's eyes, there was no reason why the man who had run down his child shouldn't be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
   Unfortunately, it wasn't so clear cut in the eyes of the British Legal System. It seemed that the court viewed the driver, twenty-six year old Vicktor Koryev, originally from the Ukraine, as the victim. His defense lawyer even went as far as to play the 'victimized immigrant card.' Therefore, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and giving a sob story to the judge by his lawyer, Koryev was given a tweleve month driving ban and made to pay £1000 in compensation. No wonder Wallace left the court believing he was denied proper justice.
   Anti-Americanism was something he had to contend with on the odd occasion during the ten years he had been living in Great Britain. Wallace first came over to the country as part of a university exchange programme with his university in Wisconsin and the University of Western England in Bristol. Originally, his exchange was only supposed to be for two years but during that time, he met and married his British wife, Joanne, (Jo) Waters, a primary school teacher from South Gloucestershire. As a result, he was given a permanent position at the university. Now, after ten years and with a five-year-old daughter, he considered himself a UK resident.
   In spite of what he felt, it didn't stop the occasional bout of anti- Americanism coming his way. Wallace concluded early on in his new adopted country that there would always be those in Britain who hated Americans for the sake of hating Americans. However, he never expected it to be quite so full on from some of his wife's colleagues. More than one of them were mortified when she announced she was marrying a Yank.
It seemed for several weeks after the announcement, she was bombarded with questions like “Why are you marrying an American?” and “Aren't British men good enough for you?” from some of her colleagues, parents and even a governor. Her answer, “I love him,” wasn't good enough for some of them. A couple of doubters speculated that Jo's fiance was very rich and she was marrying him for the money. The worst of these was a young male teacher named Howard Stone who tried to convince Jo that because Wallace was a white American, he must be racist because all white Americans were. She simply ignored him because it became clear that Howard was a full-fledged Marxist. Nonetheless, when they all heard the news of their daughter's accident all sympathies were with the Dumigans. Especially when the courts let the man who hit her was let off so lightly by the courts.
   After the defendant got such a light sentence, the Home Office became involved and began procedures to have Vicktor Koryev deported back to the Ukraine. This too proved unsuccessful as his lawyer argued the right to a family life under European Human Rights Laws. It turned out that he had a child with a British woman. Described by some as a 'gormless slapper,' she testified that he rarely saw his son. Still, it was enough to halt the deportation order on the ground that deporting Koryev would separate him from his son.
   These were miscarriages of justice in the eyes of many and Wallace felt the only action left for him was to sue Koryev civily. All of their friends fully supported the Dumigans when they announced they were taking this course of action. The only off comment came from Howard, now Deputy Head, who simply said, “That's very American.”
   Whether or not suing was typically American didn't matter to Wallace and Jo. Their five year old daughter, Helena, had sustained serious injuries as a result of some negligent driver who had broken every driving law possible. Her brain injury set her speech back two years and now only had 50% use of her right arm. She would always walk with a slight limp, which would also make running a challenge. Internal injuries required three operations. It was a minor miracle that young Helena was as healthy as she was.
   Costs of the additional care needed for their daughter was now eating into the Dumigan's savings. Wallace was grateful that the medical work had been done on the NHS. He didn't dare want to calculate how much his daughter's treatment would have cost if they were in the US. Still, there were other costs surrounding the care of their daughter and the insurance company was slow in coming through with the necessary payments. Their excuse was that it was because driver had been uninsured. With all that, it was no wonder Wallace felt that the only option available was to sue Koryev.
   The solicitor and barrister were confident of winning the suit. After all, Koryev's driving was illegal in every sense of the law and Helena's injuries so horrific, no reasonable person would fail to sympathize. In the solicitor's own words, the case couldn't fail.
   Despite all of those assurances, Wallace still felt nervous when he was called to the stand. That was in spite of the fact that everyone told him that British lawyers weren't as flamboyant or unethical as their American counterparts. Once sworn in and sitting in the witness chair, the reassuring look from his barrister went a long way in helping him relax.       The barrister was an Asian woman, approximately his own age. Her wig covered most of her head but Wallace could see that she had a gentle face.
  “Tell us about all the things you have to do for your daughter since she was run down,” the barrister began.
   “We have to take her to physio twice a week and to speech therapy once a week,” Wallace responded. “Plus, there's the additional costs of her care like the things she needs to help her walk. We've also had to modify our bathroom so she can get in and out of the tub.”
   “What was Helena like before the accident?”
   “She was your normal happy five year old, capable of doing things for herself.”
   “And what about now?”
   “Now, in spite of what has happened, she is still a happy child, she now needs support doing things.”
   “Things like what?”
   “Getting dressed, walking distances of more than 200 yards, sometimes even eating and toileting.”
   “Who do you think is responsible for your daughter's current plight?”
   “Him,” Wallace answered pointing to Koryev. “He was the one driving the car too fast, had too much to drink and who ran my daughter over.”
   If felt like a great weight had lifted from his shoulders after giving his evidence. Therefore, he wasn't worried when Koryev's barrister came over to cross examine him. The barrister was also female but white and looked younger than his own. As she approached the witness stand, she appeared tall, nearly five foot ten. He gaze fixed on him he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he braced for her questions.
   Stopping a few feet short of the stand and maintaining her gaze, she asked, “Mr Dumigan, do you consider yourself a typical American?”
   The oddness of the question momentarily threw Wallace. Regaining his composure, he answered, “I guess so, what do you call a typical American?”
    Brushing off the counter question, the barrister reiterated, “Do you think you're like the average American?”
   “I guess so,”
   “You guess so. Tell me, isn't it typical of Americans to sue when they feel even slightly aggrieved? “
   “I can't say, I've never been in that situation before.”
   “Maybe not, but I'm sure you've heard of cases in America where people have sued for ridiculous things. Like the lady who sued the makers of her microwave oven because there were no instructions telling her not to use it to dry wet animals, causing her dog to be burned alive. Or the American worker who sued his employer for getting diabetes because the employer never served any healthy snacks at their canteen. Have you heard of cases like these?”
   “I've heard of them.”
   “You've heard of them. Where were you when your daughter was hit by the car?”
   Slightly surprised by this change of direction, Wallace hesitated a moment before answering. “We were inside the house.”
   A haughty smile now appeared on the barrister's face. “If you were both inside, then who was looking after Helena?”
   He was prepared for a question like this so he calmly explained, “One of our neighbours was. We have a good many kids living in our close so the adults take it in turns to look after them when they play outside. We get very little traffic on our close so we feel it's safe to do it that way. Besides, it's better than letting them spend all day inside playing computer games.”
   “Maybe so, but you weren't outside watching your child when she got hit, were you?”
   “No, but like I said....”
   Interrupting, the barrister rammed home, “You weren't looking after your child so in true American fashion, want to blame somebody else by suing them, don't you?”
   “No, not at all.”
  “That's all, no further questions,” the lawyer rested.
   One could almost see the clouds of anger forming above Wallace as he stepped down from the witness box. “How dare that lawyer make me out to be some lawsuit-happy American!” he thought to himself as he returned to his seat. He only hoped that Jo wasn't subjected to the same line of questioning he was. Fortunately, Koryev's lawyer went easy on her and he breathed a huge sigh of relief.
   His confidence about winning grew after that. It was very hard for him to conceal his cynicism when Koryev shed crocodile tears about how sorry he was for the whole affair. Wallace was sure no one would be fooled by such an act. However no one expected it when Koryev's barrister called Howard Stone to the stand.
  “How do you know the Dumigans?” she began.
  “Jo Dumigan and I teach at the same school,” Howard answered looking smug.
  “Would you call Mr Dumigan a typical American?”
  “Oh yes,” Howard replied. “He's loud, he's crass and every time I see him, all he does is go on about how great the USA is.”
   Wallace could hardly believe what he was hearing. He knew that Howard was far left of centre in his politics and had a lot to say against the American government but he never discussed these things with him. Plus, Wallace was not any of those things he was being described as. Jo and many of their friends could testify to that.
   “So are you surprised that Mr Dumigan is suing my client?”
   “Not at all. That is the typical American thing to do.” The sneer on Howard's face grew even wider.
   “Now so people don't get the wrong idea, how do you feel about what happened to their daughter?”
   “I think it's terrible.”
   “Do you have any personal grudges against Mr or Mrs Dumigan?”
   “No.”
   “Then why are you testifying in court today?”
   “ I just feel it's wrong to see someone who made a mistake and is genuinely sorry for it, get punished even more because of some lawsuit-happy American.”
   “And do you think that Mr Dumigan is a lawsuit-happy American?”
   “Absolutely.”
   Wallace could only hope that his barrister could repair some of the damage. “Is it true you don't like Americans?” she asked the smug looking man in the witness box.
  “Not particularly,” the smug man responded.
  “I can believe that you have nothing personal against my client and his family but wouldn't you agree that your main motivation for being here today is down to the fact that you don't like Americans?”
  “No.”
  “But you have just testified that you don't like lawsuit-happy Americans suing everyone. Tell me then, why are you testifying against Mr Dumigan?”
  “Because this country is getting like America where everybody sues everybody else over every little thing.”
  “Would that mean you would say the same thing if Mr Dumigan was British?”
  “Hopefully not, I'd hope the British person wouldn't be so quick to sue.”
  “But if a British person was to sue, would you be so condemning of them
  “I don't know, depends on the circumstances.”
   Delivering her final pitch, the lawyer drilled home, “Would you agree that the real reason why you're here is that you don't like Americans?”
  “Uh, no.” Howard flubbed.
  When the jury went out, the Dumigans hoped that Howard, who disappeared after giving his evidence as mysteriously as he had appeared before, hadn't hurt their case. While they waited for their verdict, they both agreed that they would not have anything to do with him again and Jo would look for a post in another school.
  Unfortunately for Wallace and Jo Dumigan, the jury bought the idea that Wallace was simply a lawsuit happy-American. They found in Koryev's favour. Not only that, the judge ordered them to pay all of his legal costs. To add further insult to injury, when he left the courthouse, a young blonde woman of the unwashed student type came over to him, spat in his face and growled, “Serves you right you awful American pig!”
  Not only they had to continue to finance their daughter's care, they now owed thousands in legal costs to the man who ran over their daughter. Justice had certainly not been on the side of the Dumigan family.