updated: 07-Nov-13
Personal injury specialist, Michael de Broglio, has warned members of the public to be very careful about doing claims themselves with the Road Accident Fund. This, following a recent publication of statistics indicating an increasing number of members of the public being signed up by agents of the Road Accident Fund to do their claims directly with the Road Accident Fund.
De Broglio says his firm has been on the receiving end of more and more complaints from members of the public who decided to claim directly from the Road Accident Fund without using an attorney to assist them. These citizens either feel that their case was under-settled by the Road Accident Fund or that their case has now been lost. De Broglio says, “Most members of the public do not realise that a case prescribes after a certain period of time if a summons is not issued against the Road Accident Fund, and that seems to be quite common that the Road Accident Fund does not assist people in issuing a summons against them!” Part of the problem no doubt is that the thought of a business entity having to advise people, to such an extent, that they even issue a summons against themselves is somewhat ludicrous but that is the nett effect if the Road Accident Fund calls on people to lodge cases with them, and cut the attorney out of the picture. “It is ludicrous to expect a company to both look after its own interests, when they continually claim to be short of funds, as well as your interest when you have a severe injury and pay you out fairly and perhaps it should not be a surprise that so many complaints arise from people who have approached the Road Accident Fund directly", says De Broglio. According to him and his team of 8 attorneys, it is a case of “penny wise, pound foolish” and people simply have to get their own attorney, specialising in personal injury claims against the Road Accident Fund if they want any chance of successfully settling their claim.
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