Legal aid helps out senior in need

Li, a man in his sixties suffering from multiple medical ailments, is leading a difficult life with his wife in a small town under the city of Wuxue in Hubei province as a result of his considerable medical expenses.

In addition to the basic living allowances given by the local government after the couple was registered as an impoverished household in 2015, Li also worked on a construction site for a monthly salary of around 3,000 yuan ($425) until his right foot was injured while working on the site one day last September.

Li was hospitalized for more than three months during which his employer paid him nothing more than the preliminary medical expenses. After multiple rounds of futile negotiations over the compensation with the employer, Li went to the local legal aid center for help.

Right after accepting the case, the center began its fast-track process for Li, greatly simplifying the examination procedure and designating a lawyer for him the day his visited the center.

To avoid the prolonged litigation, the lawyer decided to resolve the dispute through mediation with the consent of the two sides.

Given the employer's tough stance on the dispute at the outset, the lawyer made great efforts to help it understand Li's financial difficulty, successfully softening the employer's attitude. The lawyer then started to elaborate on relevant laws and judicial interpretations for the employer in order to make it aware of its legal liability.

With the great patience and legal expertise of the designated lawyer, Li eventually reached a mediation agreement with his employer seven days after the mediation began.

As part of the poverty relief effort of the city's judicial department, the city's public legal service center had accepted 35 legal aid cases and recovered over 200,000 yuan for applicants in 25 of them as of June 10 this year.