It must be the most interesting case I’ve ever had in my practice – a compensation for a child who was born after his father’s death.
The Ukrainian seafarer dies tragically in the Great Britain on his way to the vessel. After his death he leaves his mother and a pregnant wife.
I won’t describe the process of getting compensation by the relatives of the dead seafarer. It is not the subject of this article. I’ll describe what we’ve managed to do next.
In 6 months after the tragical death of the Ukrainian seafarer, his baby is being born, and taking into account that he has been conceived in the official marriage, we still had to pass the procedure of proving the fact in the Ukrainian court.
As soon as we had all the documents on us, we settled our claim in the address of the ship owner and the insurance company in the interest of the newborn child, and we were proving the fact that the child is also entitled to be compensated.
The ship owner/ insurance company, hiring the representative in Ukraine were trying to do their best to prove the absurdity of our claims and produced the papers saying that mother and wife have signed the documents of waving all their claims off the company etc.
Our statement was as follows: on the moment of paying the compensation for the relatives, the concieved child ( being in the venter) was not entitled to compensation, and he has acquired this right at once after his being born and taking his first breath.
We supported our statement with the documents from the court, and also with the provisions from the Civil Code of Ukraine and the provisions of the International Conventions.
As a result, out statement was heard, and to avoid the judicial proceeding in the territory of the Great Britain, we were offered a sum of compensation, which satisfied the mother as a legal representative of her child.
Thus, the legal aid in getting additional compensation for the mother of a newborn child was provided.