51-year-old Elstwin Willoughby has spent the last 9 months recovering from a severe freak accident that rendered him unable to work. It happened at the Port of Belize back in January, and since then, he has lost the use of his arm, and still has to endure pain in his leg, which was broken in two places.
It's a devastating situation for this stevedore, who says that he is struggling to take care of his kids and pay his bills since he can't go back to work. And while the debts pile up, the process of accessing his liability insurance has been slow. In fact, he is still without that money today.
And while these processes do take time, at the center of the bureaucracy, is a man in a lot of pain with a lot of financial problems.
Courtney Menzies spoke with him earlier this week and has this story.
In January 2021, stevedore, 51-year-old Elstwin Willoughby's life changed forever after an accident at the Port of Belize left him unable to work. He was standing on two containers when another came barreling towards him, and all he could do was lift his hand to protect his head.
Elstwin Willoughby, Stevedore
"What had happened, we were loading the ship and what had happened, it looked like the crane stalled at the container was coming towards me and I have no way to run, so I had to take the lick and that's what hambug my hand, and the hand now is not working, the hand is 60% gone so that is why I'm here."
"My leg broke in two places, very bad, still have numbness and pain in the hand and in the foot."
And that left Willoughby unable to use his right hand - which made him unable to work. And on top of not being able to earn a salary, he says he still hasn't received his liability insurance.
Elstwin Willoughby, Stevedore
"I can't return to work because the doctor already wrote me off so I can't go back to work and that is the problem. The other day they went and paid the hospital bill because the hospital called me and I called them, I told them to deal with the Port, so they paid the $17,000 for the hospital bill."
Reporter
"Now the insurance, that is supposed to cover you because you were hurt on the job, right?"
Elstwin Willoughby, Stevedore
"Exactly, I've not heard from insurance and right now it's going for a year, it's 9 months and watch how the hand is, and I'm really in bad shape because I can't work anymore. All the tissues everything came out of the hand, it's steel in here holding up the hand."
And Willoughby has even contracted the services of an attorney, Orson Elrington. In a letter Elrington wrote to PBL on July 12th, he says they're demanding over $580,000 for various damages and loss of future earnings due to the accident.
Today, Willougby's attorney broke it down:
OJ Elrington, Attorney for Elstwin Willoughby
"Our client has become disabled as a result of negligence and we have written to the insurance company and to the institution and their attorneys have written back to us. I was actually just called by the attorney for them today and so it's an ongoing negotiation and discussion. Obviously like you said, for a person who is disabled the law does not move nearly fast enough and that is a discussion that I just had today with counsel on the other side to say that we need to move this matter as expeditiously as possible. But I must give credit and say that the attorneys on their behalf we are in communication and we are trying to resolve this matter without the intervention of the court. The last email sent was by us and we are waiting for a response from them, that was some 3 weeks ago. Although we understand that it is not a matter that can be resolve as nearly as quickly as he would like it to resolve, we also understand that there is some urgency to it and I also implore that on their attorneys today that they need to understand the plight of this gentleman and we hope that they would try to expedite and move expeditiously in trying to resolve this issue."
When we reached out to the Port of Belize for comment, the Chief Human Resource Officer explained that PBL has completed all of its obligations, including paying the hospital bill and filing for the insurance, and now the next step is between the insurance company's attorney and Elrington.
