Viewers may remember the traffic accident that Jose Abelardo Mai, the PUP Area Rep. for Orange Walk South, was involved in back in April of 2016. He was driving a Toyota Hilux which ran over Trial Farm resident, Julia Arana on the Belize-Corozal road.
Arana survived, but spent 2 difficult months recovering and then, her condition took a sharp dip and she died of acute cardio respiratory failure, caused by broncho pneumonia.
Ever since the accident, the Arana family has insisted that Mai was responsible for her demise, and they expected that he would have taken on the financial responsibilities of covering her medical bills and all other expenses they incurred.
But, things didn't work out like that - mainly because Mai believed that she died from conditions unrelated to the accident. And so, the Arana family brought a lawsuit against Mai for damages. Their claim had its first day of hearing today before Justice Courtney Abel.
7News was at court today for the opening of this trial where the doctors involved in Julia Arana's case were called to testify. The hearing last several hours, and when the attorney for the Arana family emerged, we asked her for a few comments on the important elements of their case against the Deputy Leader of the PUP. Here's what she had to say:
Sheena Pitts - Attorney for Arana Family
"That road traffic accident, Abelardo Jose Mai collided, knocked down Julia Arana who is my client's mother, so my client is bring this civil claim against Abelardo Jose Mai for knocking down his mother, the injuries sustained and the damages as a result of those injuries."
Daniel Ortiz
"Are you able to say what is the quantum ma'am?"
Sheena Pitts
"Well, the thing is because its personal injuries, damages are at large and they need to be assessed by the court. What we do is assist the court in coming up at that figure, the figure depends on the kind of injuries and then we have guidelines and other cases where similar injuries were sustained and what was awarded. In this case Ms. Arana suffered severe head injuries, brain damage, she had a broken hip, she had several scars, cuts and abrasions, she had a ruptured liver, they had to do an exploratory laparotomy. So the quantum will be based on all those injuries combined based on the period of pain and suffering she endured prior to her death. In addition to all those expenses the family incurred as a result of her being knocked down, going to the hospital you know, funeral and that sort of things."
Daniel Ortiz
"Explain to us briefly what was being established in court today in terms of the expert witnesses?"
Sheena Pitts
"Today we had 3 expert, they were joint experts, they were experts of the court and what we were doing today was showing - having the experts explain to us the classifications of the injuries and what medical terms meant and whether or not those injuries had anything to do with the lady's eventual death because it is our case that in addition to suffering those extensive head and body injuries, those injuries were directly related to her eventual death. So what the experts did is tell us the nature and classification of the injuries the severity, her condition right up until the time of death and that those injuries were directly related to what caused her to die."
The case continues tomorrow with more evidential testimony, and after that part of the lawsuit is over, the attorneys for the 2 sides will return before the judge on July 13th for oral submissions. We'll be there to tell you how it goes.
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