Nearly 12 years after a baby had the tip of his toe amputated after a car accident, his mother’s claim for more than R5m has been dismissed by a Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) judge.
The boy was six-weeks-old at the time of the accident, and is now almost 12, reports the Pretoria News.
Judge Rean Strydom refused to issue an order that the Road Accident Fund (RAF) pay the amount to the mother, and also refused to grant an order for the RAF to cover the costs of the medical experts she’d called to try to justify why the tip of her teenager’s toe was worth more than R5m.
In the car accident, he had injured his foot and toes, resulting in a portion of his left toe being amputated. However, despite that, the court heard he loved playing soccer and had suffered no major lasting effects from the 2010 crash.
Since the mother first instituted a damages claim against the RAF in 2012, future loss of earnings capacity had escalated from R500 000 to R5 411 949.
The court was told that the liability of the RAF was settled and was not an issue as it was prepared to provide the undertaking for future medical expenses. The court also heard that the general damages were settled between the parties in an amount of R550 000.
The only outstanding issue for decision was thus to determine whether the boy was entitled to be compensated for future loss of earnings and incapacity due to his toe.
An orthopaedic surgeon, who assessed the boy in February last year, had revealed that the remaining bony elements of the foot appeared intact, and that no future surgical treatment was envisaged.
In claiming for loss of future earnings, the mother said the injury would hamper her child in future when he had to work.
“In my view, the court has not been convinced and the plaintiff failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the injuries sustained by the minor child have diminished his future earning capacity, and the claim in this regard should be dismissed,” said the judge.
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