Declaring its independence in 1991, Ukraine had a fresh slate determining their legal sector and legislation for its citizens. Oleg Fedotov, Managing Partner of one of the first law firms in Ukraine with international slant post-independence. He speaks on personal injury, the challenges he faces and the way in which the legal sector still needs to develop in Ukraine.
You are based in Ukraine and are a board member of Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers Birmingham, England; how has this membership helped the way in which you practice law?
Our firm was established in 1999, not so many years after gaining independence and when Ukrainian people started having opportunity to travel and work abroad, and thus needing legal support if something went wrong.
We were one of the first to deal with not only personal injury (PI) cases in national jurisdiction, but to promote justice for our citizens on an international level, where we were mainly involved in maritime fatal injury accidents.
Then, our membership in PEOPIL not only gave wealth of new knowledge and innovative approaches to what we were already doing, but connected us with many PI lawyers worldwide, launching a new era in the history of our firm on an international level. We became actively engaged on behalf of Ukrainian citizens and also in international RTA, aviation, product liability, holiday accidents, medical malpractice cases, which is not common practice in Ukraine, opposed to developed European countries.
It is in this sense, and in many others, that PEOPIL is invaluable for its member-lawyers for when harm “crosses the borders”.
In regards to the above, can you comment on an alternative country that is ahead of its game, in relation to personal injury law? What aspects do you think Ukraine’s legislation could adopt?
Comparing Ukrainian legislation with that of other countries one should bear in mind that it is relatively young, including personal injury laws. Compensation for non-pecuniary damages was first introduced in 1993 in Ukrainian law and there is still no uniform approach by local courts to its application. The main feature of personal injury law is still, with few exceptions, reflection of general principles on compensation of damages, without specification on each type of personal injury, which is more the case with EU states legislation. Thus, there is a lot yet to adopt from developed European countries and EU legislation in general. European integration of Ukraine, being under way, will inevitably contribute to this process.
What are the most complicated cases you are given? What challenges do you face?
The most complicated cases are those with foreign element. Ukrainian courts are reluctant to apply foreign law in cases where there is a strong indication of this and more inclined to apply lex fori principles, which is not always to the benefit of victims or their survivors.
Maritime fatal or severe injury accident cases prove very challenging. Such a case may start from Ukraine in terms of negotiations, then proceed judicially in Greece, security measures (ship arrest) may be taken in Romania; when it comes to enforcement of the judgement, and a Russian insurer is involved refusing to pay under LOI issued for release of the ship in Romania, you have to initiate enforcement proceedings in Russia, whereas the said vessel may have been arrested by the claimants for the second time in Bangladesh, on the same claim against the new ship owner, where the court decides that it will hear the case against the latter on the merits.
Are there any new positive tendencies in your field of legal industry on international level?
Many international lawyers realise that personal injury can become a global issue and there is a strong tendency of personal injury lawyers from different countries to unite their efforts, which founded the first multinational group of international claimant counsel - this is really great!
Is there anything you would like to add?
I would like to thank personally Wolfgang Resch, Antoinette Collignon and all PEOPIL members for the great work they are doing to develop personal injury law on a global level.
Special thanks to our friends and best collaborating lawyers Silina Pavlakis and Christos Moschos, who have been standing up for the rights of Ukrainian citizens in Greek jurisdiction, recovering compensation beyond clients' expectation.
