Karnataka HC Says Second wife, Daughter Of Accident Victim Entitled To Compensation
· Free Press Journal
The Karnataka High Court has ruled that a second wife and her daughter are entitled to compensation in a motor accident claim if they were dependent on the deceased. The Court observed that there cannot be a strict legal test to determine who qualifies as a legal representative under the Motor Vehicles Act.
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A Bench of Justices Jayant Banerji and Tara Vitasta Ganju enhanced a Motor Vehicle Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) award by ₹15 lakh after taking into account that the deceased had a dependent second wife and a minor daughter from the second marriage in the case of Asha & Anr v Ramakrishna S Ghatge & Ors.
Court widens scope of legal representatives
The Bench said legal representatives of a deceased person are not limited to the wife, husband, parent or child. It held that any person who can establish dependency on the deceased and show that they suffered because of the death may be entitled to compensation, Bar & Bench reports.
Relying on a Supreme Court precedent, the Court expanded the interpretation of the term "legal representative" under the Motor Vehicles Act.
“The Supreme Court while examining the meaning of a legal representative as applicable to the amended MV Act has held that a legal representative need not necessarily be confined to the wife, husband, parent and child of the deceased and that every person who represents the estate of the deceased and also suffers on account of the death of a person in a motor vehicle accident should have a remedy for realisation of compensation.”
The case arose from a compensation claim against National Insurance Company (NIC) filed by the wife and mother of a flower crop agriculturalist who died in a road accident involving a vehicle insured by the company.
Dependency key factor in compensation claims
A separate claim was also filed by the deceased's second wife and minor daughter. The Court noted that their relationship with the deceased had not been proven, but said that issue was not relevant to deciding their entitlement to compensation.
The Bench further observed that there is no rigid formula for determining deductions towards personal expenses and that each case must be decided on its own facts and circumstances.
UP Man Brutally Assaults Cow In Baghpat, Arrested After Video Goes Viral“It is sufficient for the claimant to establish loss of dependency and that every legal representative who suffers on account of the death of a person in a motor vehicle accident is entitled to a remedy for realisation of compensation. The Court further held that the percentage of deduction towards personal expenses cannot be governed by a rigid formula or by the nature of relationship between the claimant and the deceased, and that the same depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case.”
The Court also found that the MACT had wrongly fixed the deceased's monthly notional income at ₹10,000. It noted that the standard notional income for 2019 was ₹14,000 per month.
“Concededly, the notional income for the year 2019 is ₹14,000 per month and there is no dispute that at the time of the accident, the deceased was 34 years of age.”
The High Court directed the insurance company to pay enhanced compensation of ₹15,02,400, along with interest at 9% per annum, to the four claimants.