Only If You Persevere Will You Get Justice

Last year a beautician won a civil law case in the United Kingdom against a property developer over access rights. The beautician and her mother's home and business were at risk.

The full story can be found at

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1227283/Beautician-turns-barrister-win-David-Goliath-High-Court-battle-construction-giant.html

However the beautician lost her first case and costs were awarded against her. Only after she researched the matter did she finally win on appeal. Having costs awarded against you must be a huge disincentive to go on!

She did not get a barrister to represent her for the appeal due to the high cost of 5, 000 GBP needed for the lawyer to have a fresh look at the case. For small businesses and individuals 5, 000 GBP is a lot of money.

Although this seems like a success story I am concerned about the following:

1) To battle a large company with far more money than you takes guts. You could lose the case and have to pay tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds of costs depending on how long the court case takes. A lot of people would just cave in and not take the risk. Companies know this.

2) A fair number of people won't research the law and the details themselves. If they rely on lawyers they will have to pay money they can't afford.

3) Why if the law was on their side (as judged by the fact that they won the appeal) did they lose the first time around? Why didn't the judge know the full facts of the case the first time around? This suggests to me that unless you have the time to do the research yourself or can afford to pay lawyers you won't get justice. You will get less than what the law says you are entitled to.

The conclusion is that companies will take what they can get regardless of the law. They will rely on you not being able to defend yourself. You will only get justice in a court if you do the research yourself or pay for a lawyer, which individuals can't necessarily afford.