A man and his son hailing from Bangalore who were fighting a long battle against an insurance company over the payment of compensation have finally won. The motor vehicle insurance firm had refused to compensate the father who had lost his other son in a road accident in 2013. However, on July 16, the high court hearing the appeal rubbished the insurance firm’s reasoning for not paying the compensation amount to the father-son duo.
What has happened?
On October 18, 2013, Irfan (son of the man), who was working as an executive at a lifestyle retail brand chain, met with an accident. The 27-year-old was walking around 5 am near Hebbal flyover when he was run over by a rashly driven Andhra Pradesh truck, reported The Times Of India. The division bench headed by Justice BV Nagarathna quashed the United India Assurance Company’s reason for not paying the compensation. The insurance company had argued that at the time of Irfan’s death, both the father and his other son were major and not his dependants.
The father and brother had earlier went to a city court claiming Rs 25 lakh compensation reasoning that Irfan was spending his whole salary on the family. On March 12, 2015, the lower court awarded Rs 25.5 lakh as compensation, with Rs 24.9 lakh under the loss of dependency category, directing the insurer to settle the amount.
Following the lower court’s order, the insurance company opposed it and sought a reduction in a compensation amount. The company claimed that during the accident, Irfan was not following the traffic rules and tried to cross the road abruptly.
Later, both the father and brother challenged the lower court’s order claiming that, the lower court has miscalculated Irfan’s monthly salary. The lower court had considered Rs 15,358 as Irfan’s salary. However, father and brother produced documents which clearly showed that Irfan was earning Rs 18,558 per month. The duo sought an additional Rs 10 lakh as compensation over the mentioned amount ordered by the lower court.
The high court now have ordered a total compensation of about Rs 29.1 lakh with 6% interests. Irfan’s father will receive Rs 20 lakh, whereas his brother will now receive Rs 9.1 lakh.
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