updated: 09-Feb-10
A Johannesburg domestic worker has been awarded more than R1.2 million in damages after sustaining a severe head injury in a three-car pile-up on one of the city’s busiest highways.
Twenty-four-year-old Linah Mahlaba*, represented by de Broglio Inc, lodged a claim against the Road Accident Fund following an accident on 2 October 2007 on the N1 South highway.
On the night in question, a car collided head-on with another vehicle, which in turn struck the car in which Linah was a passenger. She sustained a fractured pelvis, a fractured neck vertebra, a ruptured spleen and a head injury, including bleeding on the brain.
She has since been unable to resume her duties as a domestic worker due to her head trauma, and it is unlikely that she will ever sufficiently recover to do so.
With the Fund bringing no opposing experts to trial, de Broglio’s team stated its case and High Court Judge George Maluleke awarded Linah a total of R1.283 million in damages, medical expenses and so on.
The money will go into a trust and the court will appoint a curator to oversee the young woman’s financial affairs, as the injuries sustained in the accident have rendered her incapable of administering them herself.
*Names have been changed to protect client confidentiality
Case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.