Law in Practice Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law in Practice - Case Study Example As you have been convicted of an offence under this section, your driving license will be endorsed with minimum 3 points as per code CD 30. Once the points reach 12, you will be banned from driving for a specified period of time.1 However disqualification is discretionary. The trend now is looking at it as a poor driving as held in R v.Simmons.2 The circumstances under which you ran into traffic lights are quite understandable in that you had been under great mental stress trying to digest the prospect of losing your long held job for no fault of yours. This you confided with your friend Maggie and the fact that you are a quite a responsible person is proved by your conduct of informing your husband on phone that you would late. The breathalyzer test also revealed that there was no abnormal drinking on your part. You stopped by the accident spot without speeding up and that mitigates your offence. More over Roger Cooke who was hit by your car was reported to have not worn his seat be lt and been carrying an expired insurance policy. Had he been careful, accident could have been averted and the damage to the body and the vehicle could have been minimized With these things weighing in your favour, you can appeal against your conviction and have your points further reduced. As for, the personal injury claim from the Cooke, you have to inform your insurers about the accident and face the claim suitably considering the fact the Cooke also contributed to the damage by not wearing seat belt and by not renewing his insurance policy in time. Maggie, who was in the car with you at the time of accident, could testify as to the mental condition you were in because of the impending redundancy threat in your job. All these defences would mitigate the severity of the punishment and also the quantum of the personal injury claim you might expect from Cooke. As he has suffered whiplash injury after effects of which can arise even after many years, the claim is likely to be substa ntial. As he was not in his seat belt, he was thrown out of the car and hence his personal injury claim can be resisted. Much depends on the degree of fault on your side and also on his side as contributory factor. But as you have been convicted under section 3, you can not altogether avoid payment of personal injury claim from Cooke which any way your insurers are going to handle provided your insurance against third party risks was in force at the time of accident. The fact Cooke did not have insurance at the time of accident would be called into question only if he were to meet a personal injury claim from you which is however not the case. You should not ignore the claim when received. You should respond quickly within 14 days of