John McGuinness column

I was in court last week as a result of a bike accident in 2017. I was claiming against a taxi driver for injuries that I received in the accident, but unfortunately I lost the case. My brother says I should appeal and push for a retrial. The facts of the accident were that the taxi driver turned in front of me without warning. The evidence appeared to go well for me and my barrister thought the same, that is until the judge read out her decision and ruled in favour of the taxi driver. I think the judge got my evidence wrong. I have the police report and witness statements. Would you be able to advise on the chances of an appeal being successful?

Ben Davies, email

A There is a time limit to lodge the appeal of 21 days from the decision of the court so you have time but you do need to act fast. To succeed you will need to show that the judge was either wrong in law or fact and this affected the result or that she “erred” seriously in her

‘There is a time limit of 21 days to lodge the appeal’

judgment. In other words that no reasonable judge would have found as she did.

The most sensible approach would be for the barrister who represented you in the original hearing to write an urgent, short opinion on the prospects of a successful appeal and then consider how you would fund the appeal. The problem is that the appeal process can prove costly and, of course, there are no guarantees.