Compensation For Future Prospects Can Be Claimed In Accident Cases Involving Serious Injuries Resulting In Permanent Disablement : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court observed that compensation for future prospects can be claimed in accident cases involving serious injuries resulting in permanent disablement.

The bench said that it has come across the opposite view taken by High Courts and Motor Accident Claims Tribunals. Such a narrow reading is illogical because it denies altogether the possibility of the living victim progressing further in life in accident cases – and admits such possibility of future prospects, in case of the victim's death, the court said.

The bench observed thus while enhancing compensation awarded to an accident victim who had suffered permanent disability to the extent of 45%. Recalculating the compensation, the bench enhanced the compensation from Rs.9,26,800/- awarded by the High Court to Rs.21,78,600/-.

In its judgment, the bench discussed the position of law regarding determining the compensation in accident cases. The principle followed in assessing motor vehicle compensation claims, is to place the victim in as near a position as she or he was in before the accident, with other compensatory directions for loss of amenities and other payments, the court noted.

The court made the following observations in the judgment:

'Future Prospects'

"It is now a well settled position of law that even in cases of permanent disablement incurred as a result of a motor-accident, the claimant can seek, apart from compensation for future loss of income, amounts for future prospects as well. We have come across many orders of different tribunals and unfortunately affirmed by different High Courts, taking the view that the claimant is not entitled to compensation for future prospects in accident cases involving serious injuries resulting in permanent disablement. That is not a correct position of law. There is no justification to exclude the possibility of compensation for future prospects in accident cases involving serious injuries resulting in permanent disablement. Such a narrow reading is illogical because it denies altogether the possibility of the living victim progressing further in life in accident cases – and admits such possibility of future prospects, in case of the victim's death."

'Just Compensation'

"just compensation" should include all elements that would go to place the victim in as near a position as she or he was in, before the occurrence of the accident. Whilst no amount of money or other material compensation can erase the trauma, pain and suffering that a victim undergoes after a serious accident, (or replace the loss of a loved one), monetary compensation is the manner known to law, whereby society assures some measure of restitution to those who survive, and the victims who have to face their lives.

Serious injury inflicts deep mental and emotional scars upon the victim

Courts should be mindful that a serious injury not only permanently imposes physical limitations and disabilities but too often inflicts deep mental and emotional scars upon the victim. The attendant trauma of the victim's having to live in a world entirely different from the one she or he is born into, as an invalid, and with degrees of dependence on others, robbed of complete personal choice or autonomy, should forever be in the judge's mind, whenever tasked to adjudge compensation claims. Severe limitations inflicted due to such injuries undermine the dignity (which is now recognized as an intrinsic component of the right to life under Article 21) of the individual, thus depriving the person of the essence of the right to a wholesome life which she or he had lived, hitherto. From the world of the able bodied, the victim is thrust into the world of the disabled, itself most discomfiting and unsettling. If courts nit-pick and award niggardly amounts oblivious of these circumstances, there is resultant affront to the injured victim.

Case details

Sidram vs Divisional Manager United India Insurance Co. Ltd. | 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 968 | CA 8510 OF 2022 | 16 Nov 2022 | Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Anand Sanjay M Nuli, Adv. Mr. Nanda Kumar K.B, Adv. Mr. Suraj Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Dharam Singh, Adv. Mr. Agam Sharma, Adv. Ms. Nandini Pandey, Adv. Ms. Akhila Wali, Adv. Mr. Shiva Swaroop, Adv. M/s. Nuli & Nuli, AOR

For Respondent(s) Mr. Maibam Nabaghanashyam Singh, AOR

Headnotes

Motor Accident Compensation Claims - Even in cases of permanent disablement incurred as a result of a motor-accident, the claimant can seek, apart from compensation for future loss of income, amounts for future prospects as well - Law regarding determination of compensation discussed - "Just compensation" should include all elements that would go to place the victim in as near a position as she or he was in, before the occurrence of the accident - Courts should be mindful that a serious injury not only permanently imposes physical limitations and disabilities but too often inflicts deep mental and emotional scars upon the victim. (Para 29-32, 139)

Motor Accident Compensation Claims - Notional Income - It is not necessary to adduce any documentary evidence to prove the notional income of the victim and the Court can award the same even in the absence of any documentary evidence - The Court should ensure while choosing the method and fixing the notional income that the same is just in the facts and circumstances of the particular case, neither assessing the compensation too conservatively, nor too liberally - Referred to Kirti and Another v. Oriental Insurance Company Limited, (2021) 2 SCC 166. (Para 59)

Motor Accident Compensation Claims - Pecuniary Expenses and Non- Pecuniary Loss -  "Future Medical Expenses" and "Attendant Charges" would fall within the ambit of Pecuniary Expenses - "Pain and suffering" would be categorized as a non-pecuniary loss as it is incapable of being arithmetically calculated. Therefore, when compensation is to be awarded for pain and suffering, special circumstances of the claimant have to be taken into account including the victim's age, the unusual deprivation the victim has suffered, the effect thereof on his or her future life. (Para 67, 93)

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