Deduction of gratuitous payments received by damages claimants

By Paul Cartwright on February 28, 2022 Posted in General

In the June 2021 judgement of Chantell Martin v Road Accident Fund, the court decided that gratuitous or benevolent payments, received by an injured claimant from her husband, should not be taken into account in the calculation of that person’s damages for loss of earnings. The accident occurred in 2015, and the RAF had conceded … Continue reading

Every word must be given a meaning when interpreting a statute

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on May 12, 2021 Posted in General

When interpreting a statutory provision, one must proceed from the fundamental premise that meaning must be given to every word (provided the context lends itself to such meaning). The rationale for this principle is that a statute is not taken to use words without meaning. No clause, sentence or word must be construed to be … Continue reading

Dependants can’t sue Road Accident Fund where breadwinner dies in single vehicle accident

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on April 25, 2018 Posted in Insurance

The surviving wife and children of a breadwinner sued the Road Accident Fund for damages when he died as a result of a single vehicle accident in which the deceased’s negligence was the sole cause of the collision. The court held that the Road Accident Fund does not provide such a remedy and no wrongfulness … Continue reading