Don't know if I should help?????

ravenhead

hi guys,
A couple of months ago I was at a friends wedding & the unthinkable happened - she fell during the disco & really badly hurt her leg. She has been out of work since, spent her honeymoon in a wheel chair & basically has had a few months from hell. She has had to go back to work - even though she still can't even put on her own shoes as she can't bend her knee, basically because the hotel are refusing to pay her medical bills. All of us that were on the floor are giving statement of what happened but I have discovered that I am the only one that has put into my statement that two staff came in & I think that they mopped the floor after she fell - I didn't see that the floor was wet but the back of her dress was all stained from what looked like beer.
I don't know if I'm doing the right thing putting it in my statement, everyone else said that they don't want to get involved but I feel so bad for her - any advise what I should do?? I didn't actually see him mop the floor but he did have a mop in his hand, but people started dancing again so I didn't have a clear view of him,

What will I do?

humanji

Just tell the truth.

Slow Motion

ravenhead wrote: »

hi guys,
A couple of months ago I was at a friends wedding & the unthinkable happened - she fell during the disco & really badly hurt her leg. She has been out of work since, spent her honeymoon in a wheel chair & basically has had a few months from hell. She has had to go back to work - even though she still can't even put on her own shoes as she can't bend her knee, basically because the hotel are refusing to pay her medical bills. All of us that were on the floor are giving statement of what happened but I have discovered that I am the only one that has put into my statement that two staff came in & I think that they mopped the floor after she fell - I didn't see that the floor was wet but the back of her dress was all stained from what looked like beer.
I don't know if I'm doing the right thing putting it in my statement, everyone else said that they don't want to get involved but I feel so bad for her - any advise what I should do?? I didn't actually see him mop the floor but he did have a mop in his hand, but people started dancing again so I didn't have a clear view of him,

What will I do?

Simple ! Just put what you saw in your statement, no more no less and let the courts sort it out !

Lux23

Just say what you saw, its not like you are making something up for her to make a sucessful claim. Poor girl, thats rotten luck.

ravenhead

But there are two of these guys & they have already said that they didn't have a mop & didn't mop the floor so if I'm the only one saying that they did have a mop doesn't that look bad?

Beruthiel

ravenhead wrote: »

But there are two of these guys & they have already said that they didn't have a mop & didn't mop the floor so if I'm the only one saying that they did have a mop doesn't that look bad?

You mean the hotel staff are lying for their boss in order to keep their jobs? What else would they do?
If you saw them with mops, then tell the truth. To say anything else would be lying, why would you do that?

ravenhead

Beruthiel wrote: »

You mean the hotel staff are lying for their boss in order to keep their jobs? What else would they do?
If you saw them with mops, then tell the truth. To say anything else would be lying, why would you do that?

That's what I keep telling myself but there were 5 of us on the dance floor with her when it happened & three out of the 5 were beside me when the guys came out & they are not putting it into their statements - her own aunt who was even closer to them has also refused to get involved, I'm just scared that these guys are going to try to make out that I'm lying & that it'll come against her - I've spoken to my husband about it & he doesn't want me to get involved either, I just really don't know what to do.

Beruthiel

ravenhead wrote: »

her own aunt who was even closer to them has also refused to get involved.

Harsh.
Is this because it's a moral issue? ie - we're becoming so american we'll sue at the drop of a hat.
In your opinion, is she right to be suing over this?
If the floor was wet because of someone at the wedding, how is that the hotel's fault? If it happened in their own house there's no one to sue.
It depends upon the full facts as you see them.
It's yourself you have to live with, do what you feel is right in that case.

Slow Motion

ravenhead wrote: »

That's what I keep telling myself but there were 5 of us on the dance floor with her when it happened & three out of the 5 were beside me when the guys came out & they are not putting it into their statements - her own aunt who was even closer to them has also refused to get involved, I'm just scared that these guys are going to try to make out that I'm lying & that it'll come against her - I've spoken to my husband about it & he doesn't want me to get involved either, I just really don't know what to do.

If they don't want to get involved that's up to them, but if you are her friend then you know what to do ! If any of my friends refused to get involved on my behalf in such a situation I would drop them like a hot potato and find some real ones. Do the right thing and you'll find it a lot easier to live with yourself !

ravenhead

Slow Motion wrote: »

If they don't want to get involved that's up to them, but if you are her friend then you know what to do ! If any of my friends refused to get involved on my behalf in such a situation I would drop them like a hot potato and find some real ones. Do the right thing and you'll find it a lot easier to live with yourself !

Yeah I really think that I need to do something - it happened in July & she's been out of work since then - only going back last week - she just wants them to pay for her medical expenses which I think is fair enough, her wedding was wrecked & so was her honeymoon & she's had months of hell with the pain she is in - isn't that what these hotel's get public liability insurance for??? Oh I don't know guys, I can't prove anything when I didn't see him use the mop & her still mother got her dress cleaned when she was on her honeymoon!!!

Overheal

Beruthiel wrote: »

Harsh.
Is this because it's a moral issue? ie - we're becoming so american we'll sue at the drop of a hat.*
In your opinion, is she right to be suing over this?
If the floor was wet because of someone at the wedding, how is that the hotel's fault? If it happened in their own house there's no one to sue.
It depends upon the full facts as you see them.
It's yourself you have to live with, do what you feel is right in that case.

Hotels/clubs will stipulate out of Health and Safety that no drink is to be on a dance floor - theres obvious, obvious reasons for this.

Secondly, the Hotel HAS liability insurance. Its the law. Did you happen to see a sign saying we Take No Liability for lost/stolen property? Perhaps. Thats fine. Its quite another to say we take no liability if you are injured on our premises.

Not to be political about it :rolleyes: but how is this a moral issue? This woman is suffering and the hotel has insurance to cover it. From what I've heard the hotel is trying to deny any fault and the next logical step is statements and legal action. We're not talking about the $100m pair of dry-cleaned trousers here - theres a right and wrong to legal action and this is Right.

If it were me I would consider it a must do and I would forward this thread over to Legal Discussion to get a better opinion on that regard.

Miss Fluff

I get the impression from your post that although you didn't see them mop the floor you are going to say you did because you saw one of them with a mop in his hands. Don't lie. Just put the truth in your statement. If you didn't see them mopping the floor then don't put it in. To do so could damage her case even further. Under what grounds is she sueing the hotel btw?

ravenhead

Miss Fluff wrote: »

I get the impression from your post that although you didn't see them mop the floor you are going to say you did because you saw one of them with a mop in his hands. Don't lie. Just put the truth in your statement. If you didn't see them mopping the floor then don't put it in. To do so could damage her case even further. Under what grounds is she sueing the hotel btw?

She wasn't even going to sue them, she went to them about 2 months ago about her mounting medical costs to see if they could come to an agreement & that's when the two guys lied & the hotel manager basically told her you can't prove anything because you had your dress cleaned!

dade

just make a statement as to what you saw. don't embellish it or anything. people may not want to get involved because it may have been the lady's fault that she fell. then again the hotel may be liable. if she was intoxicated then it is her own look out. but this isn't a legal forum so enough about that.

at the end of the day the hotel does have insurance, the hotel are probably not accepting liability because of the size of the claim. its not just going to be for the injury, but the ruination of the honeymoon a once in a life time event etc. it will probably end up with PIAB and be settled within 6-9 months.

justsomebloke

The whole point of getting statements is so that they can get a full a view as possible as to what happened at the time. So just give your version of events. It is not like anyone is going to think that you are lying and take you to court over it. So just tell the truth and hopefully you could even help a friend out by doing it

K_P

Tell the truth. Say what you saw, no more, no less. Who knows how this is going to go in court?! You're over-thinking this in my opinion.

ghouse

Just do whatever you think is right. If you think she doesn't deserve compensation, then lie. If you think she deserves compensation, lie.

I think you want to not have to make a choice. If you tell the truth, someone else will decide on it. Maybe that's the best way to do it. Avoid placing the burden on yourself and tell the truth.

Blazer

ravenhead wrote: »

She wasn't even going to sue them, she went to them about 2 months ago about her mounting medical costs to see if they could come to an agreement & that's when the two guys lied & the hotel manager basically told her you can't prove anything because you had your dress cleaned!

those fvckers... As everyone says tell the truth and see what happens.
Can't believe none of her so-called friends want to be involved.
Should question them on the sly and see if they really did see a guy mopping and just not admit to it.

ravenhead

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

those fvckers... As everyone says tell the truth and see what happens.
Can't believe none of her so-called friends want to be involved.
Should question them on the sly and see if they really did see a guy mopping and just not admit to it.

I know that they saw as much as I did, they were sitting right beside me & one of them even commented on it when we saw the guys coming in.
Just to add a bit more - she wasn't drinking at all - only a glass of wine for the toast & she even changed her shoes into flat ones as her heals were killing her!

MagicMarker

I don't really know what the issue here is. These aren't mobsters we're talking about who are going to come after you.

Just say it like you saw it. I think it's all being blown of proportion tbh.

Overheal

ravenhead wrote: »

She wasn't even going to sue them, she went to them about 2 months ago about her mounting medical costs to see if they could come to an agreement & that's when the two guys lied & the hotel manager basically told her you can't prove anything because you had your dress cleaned!

Im sorry but when someone jumps straight to 'you cant prove anything!' they know theyre at fault. at least partially.

their defense against the beer is flawed: "Oh I didnt murder him. See? I dont have blood on my hands 6 weeks later."

Its absolute rubbish. I say give your statement. Tell the truth.

ravenhead

Overheal wrote: »

Im sorry but when someone jumps straight to 'you cant prove anything!' they know theyre at fault. at least partially.

their defense against the beer is flawed: "Oh I didnt murder him. See? I dont have blood on my hands 6 weeks later."

Its absolute rubbish. I say give your statement. Tell the truth.

I'm going to give my statement for sure - I'm just worried that because I'm the only one coming forward that it won't help her case in the long run because but of the guys are guys are saying the opposite to me.

MagicMarker

ravenhead wrote: »

I'm going to give my statement for sure - I'm just worried that because I'm the only one coming forward that it won't help her case in the long run because but of the guys are guys are saying the opposite to me.

Well it definitely won't help her case if you lie:)

Oilrig

Woah!

Back to the original question, post number two has the answer.