A MAN who has been waiting nearly seven years to be compensated after he had submitted a claim to the Road Accident Fund following the severe brain damage he had suffered when a car collided with his vehicle as he was overtaking it, is set to receive R12 million in damages from the fund.
The man, Marnus van Graan, is being represented by a curator (an advocate who is acting on his behalf due to his brain damage). He was awarded R11.8m by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria last week for general damages and loss of income.
But he is due to receive a total of about R12m as his past medical expenses must still be calculated and added to the R11.8m now awarded to him.
The monetary damages followed after the court found the fund is 100% liable for the damages Van Graan suffered.
The bulk of the money – R 10 048 859.50 – was awarded in regards to his past and future loss of income, while he was awarded R1.8m in general damages.
His lawyer, Pieter Coetzee of Gert Nel Inc Attorneys, said it was a long wait for his client to get to the point that the court has now pronounced on his claim.
Coetzee said the claim was issued to the RAF in September 2017, but up to this point the law firm did not receive any offer from the fund regarding the claim.
Coetzee added that in spite of the fact that the facts of the accident are clear, as are the fact that the patient had suffered severe brain damage and related injuries, the fund disputed the facts of the case up until the court ruled that it is in fact liable.
“Although Mr van Graan’s life will never be the same, we are glad to have been instrumental in providing him with the compensation for his damages, which he is so dearly in need of, especially given the time that elapsed in these seven years since lodgement of the claim with the Fund,” Coetzee said.
According to him, numerous attempts were made to resolve the matter without a trial.
“However, mostly because the claims handlers employed by the fund are inundated and overwhelmed with the volumes of these claims, a trial date was necessary to resolve the matter, something characterising most third party claims nowadays.”
Coetzee said Van Graan was one of the “few lucky ones” to actually receive a trial date in the relatively near future, as opposed to plaintiffs presently being allocated trial dates as far in the future as August 2028.
According to him, there are thousands of claimants whose matters are still to be allocated trial dates – many having already waited a year or more since they applied for these dates.
Van Graan was 21 when he was involved in the accident in Kempton Park, when the driver of a car he was busy overtaking suddenly turned the vehicle in his direction and collided with his vehicle.
A severe traumatic brain injury with a fracture extended into the skull base with subsequent bleeding on the brain was his fate.
He worked as a sales and marketing manager at the time of the accident, but medical experts told the court that due to his severe injuries, he will no longer be able to work.
A neurologist explained to the court that Van Graan sustained a severe traumatic head injury and required urgent surgery to drain an extradural bleed. Apart from this, he also had skull base fractures.
The medical expert concluded that Van Graan has been left with, among other issues, permanent cognitive mental problems, a loss of short-term memory and lack of concentration.
His fine motor skills were also affected and he suffers from a left-sided facial nerve palsy which is a direct consequence of his involvement in the accident.
Pretoria News