A surgeon’s plea to talk face-to-face with the widower of a woman he killed in a car crash was rejected by a sheriff.
Dr Benjamin Kendrick offered to meet Robert Johnston (63) in a bid to reach agreement over the £300,000 compensation claim made against him.
The doctor caused the death of Joan Johnston by driving carelessly and has accepted liability for damages relating to her death.
But Dr Kendrick is refusing to pay the full £300,000 claim and said the victim’s 30-stone weight should have a bearing on the level of compensation involved.
The court previously heard that Mrs Johnston was so heavy that both the ambulance and the air ambulance called to the scene were unable to transfer her to hospital. A helicopter from RAF Kinloss eventually took her to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Dr Kendrick’s solicitor Carla Melville asked the court to put the case off for 10 weeks to allow a face-to-face meeting to take place.
However, Clair McArthur, for Mr Johnston, said that her instructions were to oppose any continuation.
Dr Kendrick (36) has questioned how long Mrs Johnston (57) would have lived as a result of her weight and the likely associated health problems, had she not died in the road crash.
Dr Kendrick, from Chesham, admitted causing the death of the Scarborough woman by driving carelessly on the A93 Perth to Braemar road on May 6,2009.
He was fined £5,000 and banned from driving for three years.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher ruled out jailing Kendrick because his victim may have survived the head-on crash if she had been of average size.
The same sheriff refused to continue the case for talks and fixed a proof for September.
Mr Johnston, a retired Post Office manager said: “We were married 38 years and she always struggled with her weight, but that wasn’t why she died. The fact he’s disputing this really makes it worse.”