“I raised a legal action to get answers” - wife of cyclist hopes £1.3m legal victory inspires those seeking justice

In May 2018 former RAF veteran William Ronald was killed while cycling in Fife.

The 46-year-old was rounding a narrow bend when he collided with a bin lorry that crossed onto his side of the tarmac - William suffered multiple injuries and, sadly, died at the scene.

His wife Katrina and their three daughters were utterly devastated at the sudden loss – but it was what happened next that worsened their trauma.

After a police investigation the procurator fiscal ruled out any action against the lorry driver or Perth & Kinross Council – this in turn led to the Council’s insurance company accusing William of being 100% to blame for his own death.

Katrina, 56, knew in her heart this was not true and she was left in disbelief at the conduct of the authority figures as they aired their opinions (and accusations) of William. The “defiant” treatment from authority figures lit a fire in Katrina – she wanted to make a fatal accident claim to clear her husband’s name.

She said: “With no prosecution the Council dug their heels in, treated us with absolute defiance and basically said ‘Your husband is 100% to blame so go away’.

“It made me sick with anger but instead of feeling brow-beaten and rejected it actually fired me up more.

“I could not accept that someone would lay 100% of the blame at William’s feet so for me the court case was not about proving William was right but about proving the council was wrong.”

Katrina from Kelty, Fife, came to Digby Brown where Innes Laing, Partner in our Kirkcaldy office, began building a legal case.

He recovered the police crash report and had it reviewed by an independent crash expert – the expert concluded at least some liability on the bin lorry driver could be established. Innes then spoke to other experts to calculate the financial losses to the Ronald household as a result of William’s passing.

Over time, negotiations with Perth & Kinross Council broke down – on one occasion the Council’s insurance company even failed to attend a scheduled meeting which only angered the family more.

Katrina’s civil action was later escalated to a jury trial at the Court of Session in Edinburgh – the highest civil court in the country. (It would be the first jury trial the Court had seen in seven years.)

After hearing evidence for three days jurors concluded that the Ronald family should receive £1.3million in compensation – the jury also ruled that while William did play a part in the accident they agreed the bin lorry driver was responsible as well. William was deemed to be 58% responsible due to taking the bend too quickly with the bin lorry driver being 42% responsible due to their positioning on the road.

This attributing of blame – known as contributory negligence – meant the Ronald family’s £1.3m compensation was deducted by 58% to reflect William’s portion of responsibility, leaving them with around £550,000.

Katrina now hopes her public battle – and victory – will inspire other victims, survivors and bereaved families to never give up in their pursuit for answers.

She said: “I honestly couldn’t care less about the compensation – I raised a legal action to get answers and we did that.

“We now have a black and white ruling to prove the council was wrong in their argument and I feel vindicated for that.

“My youngest daughter, who was seven-years-old when her dad died, wanted to know the specifics of how he died and I didn’t want to be in a position where my only answer is ‘I don’t know’ and I certainly didn’t want to be in a position where I had to tell her ‘Well, I could have tried to get answers but I didn’t try’.

“To anyone else out there who lost someone or is caught up in these kinds of cases – keep going.

“Ignore the naysayers. Ignore every wee thought that tells you it’s too hard or it’s not worth it because it is.

“Take whatever pain and anger you have and use it to motivate you and sharpen your thinking.

“You’ll get the truth and answers you need. You’ll get your justice.”

Our Partner, Innes, added: “Civil trials are extremely rare as most cases are settled out of court via negotiations.

“I’m genuinely moved by the sustained drive, strength, dignity and patience shown by Katrina and her children because it’s not easy to hold fast for so long.

“Katrina is also completely right – all bereaved families deserve answers and empathy and I hope others out there, from victims to responsible third parties, take note of the lessons from this rare but extremely important legal action.”