Mary Coburn and Henry Carus + Associates

The Story

Mary Coburn and her husband were well and truly retired and enjoying their retirement years. One day they decided to travel on their local tram. After getting onto the tram with her husband, Mary stepped across the tram to touch on with her MYKI card. As she did so the tram accelerated rapidly, causing Mary to fall and injure her wrist.

The incident and the driving of the tram driver was so poor that other passengers stepped forward and volunteered to be witnesses for Mary. Mary’s husband, a former accountant, took careful statements from the witnesses, and reported the accident to the tram company with a forceful complaint of the driver’s actions.

After a period of recovery, Mary booked an appointment with our firm and sought our advice on whether she was eligible for compensation. The injuries Mary sustained were especially distressing to her as she was a keen bowls player, often competing at a high level. She had not previously sough compensation in any form but felt particularly distressed for the pain and suffering caused by the tram driver’s negligent driving. We told her we were very able to assist her and would start working on her file right away.

When we obtained the records of the incident, we were astonished to see that the driver had reported the incident in a totally different manner where he was not responsible for Mary’s fall. The way he reported the incident seemed to suggest that Mary simply fell over, maybe because of her age.

We obtained medical evidence to support the level of Mary’s disability, and the TAC eventually agreed that Mary had suffered a serious injury – giving her access to common law compensation. We then sought an early conference to allow Mary to get the compensation she deserved.

Since we had the driver’s statements, we were not surprised that the TAC, the insurer for the tram driver, took the view that he was not responsible for the accident. That view dramatically changed when we advised of the statements we had, and it was easily accepted that what the tram driver said was not going to be accepted.

The level of compensation was discussed and we were fortunately able to convince the TAC to provide Mary with a settlement that reflected the level of her ongoing disability. The process was quick and easy for Mary, and one she greatly appreciated at her age.

About six weeks after a transport accident, my husband and I decided to look for a solicitor to assess whether I had a case for which to seek compensation. We looked on line and chose the lawyers Henry Carus and Associates, and made an appointment with the firm to make our enquiry. We chose them based on the success claims on the website. Subsequent events proved to us, the validity of those claims. We were surprised at this first appointment when we actually met with Henry!  He listened patiently to our explanation of an accident I sustained on a tram and, after he had made his assessment of our situation, he told us that we did indeed have a case for which to claim compensation. Henry then proceeded to give us a full explanation of the course of action the firm would take. After consideration, we decided then to follow the path Henry outlined to us. In all of our dealings with the Henry Carus and Associates’ team, we found they provided us with specialised, individual, personal support throughout the 21 months, and that their attention to detail was very professional. The team assigned to my case kept me in close and regular contact throughout the process. At no time did I feel out of touch.In fact, quite the opposite! Our expectations on winning the case were in ‘the ball park’ of what Henry forecast for me, and in the final analysis he achieved what we believed was a fair settlement. We would certainly recommend Henry Carus to friends and others who believe they have grounds to make a personal injury claim.

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