Fear the Grapes of Wrath…..

I was mildly perplexed when I first read about the case of one Alexander Martin-Sklan who decided to take the shop chain Marks and Spencer to court this month. 

It appears that he was leaving one of their stores in North London when he slipped over and, unfortunately for him, managed to do himself some not inconsiderable injury. The kicker is that he blames the store for his injury. He blames an errant grape which managed to lodge itself into the sole of one his sandals.  He stated that the offending piece of fruit could well have been picked up whilst in the store or, indeed, in the very car park that the misfortune occurred.

Could have being the operative phrase here. Not definitely did. Could have. Remember that phrase, people. It will be important later.  

 

His reaction. Well, he felt aggrieved enough against the chain to determine that they were responsible for this individual specimen of soft fruit and, as a result, should pay him for his calamity. He felt that he was entitled to compensation to the tune of some £315,815 for the usual, ‘loss of earnings and psychological damage’. 

That is a lot of fruit salad in anyone’s money…

The claimant stated that the store was remiss in it’s cleaning regimen for the outside of the store. This was within the main body of the claim that also stated that Mr Martin-Sklan was leaving the store and, when walking down a ramp, a car passed in front of him at speed causing him to have to stop suddenly. This was the point when the slip occurred. Just prior to leaving the store, he passed through the fresh fruit section. 

As a result of his injuries, this chap also claims that the on-going depression and lack of confidence engendered had caused him to lose further business.

This is a man who charges £225 an hour. He is an accountant. Call me cynical but I am having some hard time eliciting sympathy for this fellow at this point. Not a manual labourer, he.

I may be talking out of turn but I am pretty sure that accountancy has not become a calling that requires an individual to be in the upright position when pursuing it. 

All that notwithstanding, apparently this wicked fruit has allegedly also curtailed this lad’s apparent pastimes  of tennis, football and he can’t go on his skiing trips. 

My heart bleeds for him. Really.  I feel his pain (figuratively, of course). 

The main upshot of all of this is that the case was contested and Mr Martin-Sklan chose to represent himself. A risky manoeuvre by any standards. 

 So what happened next? Well, the long and short is simple. 

He lost his claim.

Shame.

The judge felt that he could not rule that there was compelling enough evidence that the offending fruit article was indeed even to blame, let alone that it was from the store in question. He said (I like this bit) he was not persuaded that the ’substance in the void’ caused the slippage.  Simple as that. Done and dusted.

Well, not quite…..

It transpires that not only does our down-in-the-dumps skiing bean-counter not get his payday from Marks and Spencer, he has to kick in and pay them to the tune of £15,000 to cover the legal costs.

It will be a while before his next trip to Whistler or Val d’Isere, I feel.  

Never mind. At £225 an hour I don’t think that he will be wanting for a dinner anytime soon. 

I just don’t think that it will be coming from Marks and Spencers in the near future.