After her head collided with the exterior mirror of a Giessen city bus, a young deaf woman asked Mit.Bus GmbH for a five-digit sum.
pour . As on so many other days, the then 16-year-old student was waiting for her bus on April 5, 2012 at the market square. Suddenly she felt a violent thud that literally outlined the young woman. Her head had collided with the wing mirror of one of the city buses. For the student, who had been deaf since she was born, this accident was not only very painful, but also had serious consequences. Due to the injuries she suffered, she was no longer able to use her cochlear implant – a technical hearing aid that reached into the inner ear. She had to change schools, failed to find an apprenticeship, and suffered from depression on top of that. To date, the overall health of the now 25-year-old has barely improved. Therefore, she is asserting claims for pain and suffering in five-digit amounts against the operator, the municipal utility subsidiary Mit.Bus GmbH, at the regional court.
Financial imaginations far apart
It became apparent early on in the ultimately failed quality negotiations on Wednesday that the financial ideas of both sides were too far apart. After the company had already paid 6,000 euros in compensation for pain and suffering a few years ago, the plaintiff’s lawyer now initially demanded a further 34,000 euros. Mit.Bus GmbH, however, did not want to increase the additional sum of 14,000 euros it had already promised, as the defendant’s lawyer made clear. In addition, one insists on a settlement clause in order to prevent any future claims for pain and suffering. Since Judge Bastian only set April 6th as the delivery date for her verdict, both sides have until then to approach each other in their monetary ideas and to agree on a settlement.
The accident radically changed the plaintiff’s life. As she described with the help of a sign interpreter when the judge asked, she was no longer able to wear her cochlear implant due to the head injuries and persistent pressure and nerve pain – which would have been seven to eight on a ten-point scale. Since pills soon no longer helped her, she hoped that her doctors would prescribe opiates for the pain, but they refused.
After the young woman had been well integrated at her previous school and had sought training as a health care professional, she had to reorient herself professionally. And so she attended a technical college for education and social affairs, where she was repeatedly absent due to her state of health. The subsequent search for an apprenticeship position was not possible until today because of the ongoing problems. Since then she has been unable to work and receives social benefits. The woman also reported that she slept badly and kept dreaming of the accident at the time. The long-term exposure to pain also led to depression. She was also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The plaintiff explained that she was particularly stressed by the fact that she could only communicate with her family poorly after the accident.
She is now able to wear the cochlear implant at least for hours until the pain becomes too severe. As her lawyer confirmed, it is currently impossible to predict how her health will develop.
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