Re: Lotto Rapist

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:07:31 +0000, johannes
<johs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

If someone stole your wallet but could not reimburse you because they
had spent the money and were skint at the time, would you not feel
that they should pay you back what they stole as soon as they *did*
have the money to be able to afford to do so?

But it is probably difficult to hide the feeling of revenge, i.e. thinking
that winning the lottery is salt in the wound, and he shouldn't be able to
get away with it. Certainly, the tabloids had that angle. Contrasting the
misery of the woman with his life in the sun. Is there some hidden agenda
here? If the rapist had a normal 9-5 job, would she then sue him for money?

There are a couple of points here. The first is that if the defendant
had a good prospect of being able to pay her damages within a
reasonable time, then she should have sued him whilst she was in time
to do so, and the time limit should in such a case be enforced. But
when there is no likely prospect of him ever paying, it would be
stupid to engage in litigation for which you would have to pay all
your legal costs when there is no prospect of getting a penny. That
does not mean however that it is not *justified* for you to claim
compensation - just that you have to make a pragmatic decision.

If however the defendant unexpectedly comes into money as in this
case, the justification for claiming compensation still exists, and so
I see no reason why it should not be exercised after the reason for
failing to exercise it falls away.

And yes, rich people are in greater danger of being sued than poor
people for two reasons. Firstly the opportunist who does not have an
honest case will know that they have a good chance of achieving an
out-of-court settlement if s/he makes a false accusation. secondly.
people with a genuine case will not be gambling that they will lose
out even if they win.

The amount of compensation will be decided by the judge in the UK, not
a jury, and will thus be based upon actual damage suffered rather than
the wealth of the defendant.

--
Cynic

.

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