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GOH'S HOME PAGE Last updated: 16 Aug 2003 David's SoapBox This page is located on:
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Insurance Claims Last updated 16 Aug 2003 Back to D'Singapore Scene Know your rights! Something to consider when some idiot motorist causes you to have an accident: don't just claim against his insurance! Prove that the other party was negligent and that no reasonable care was taken to avoid the accident, damages can then be claimed. In event, keep calm. Get the other guy's license plate number. Even he runs, the authorities might be able to get him later. If you know you are right, don't relent. Pursue the driver and his insurer to the end and win!
The Straits Times Interactive AUG 23 2000 Man's worth figures in claims INSURANCE claims for compensation following accidents are determined by the victim's worth, not just the extent of the damage. This was a lesson learnt by the owner of a Ford Laser after he collided with a Ferrari 348TS here in 1994. The Ferrari's driver sued the Ford owner for $570,000, which he said was what it would cost to repair the sports car. The Ferrari owner claimed it had to be sent to Germany for repairs as its body was made of Kevlar, a light but tough material used in bullet-proof vests. Luckily for the Ford owner, neither he nor his insurer had to cough up the compensation because the High Court held the driver of the Ferrari responsible for the accident. Lawyers and insurers told The Straits Times that had the Ferrari owner proved that the Ford Laser driver was negligent, he could have claimed half a million dollars in compensation. They said if negligent motorists can be sued for hundreds of thousands for damaging sports cars, they can, similarly, face huge law suits for injuring people with high incomes. If a motorist, for example, were to run down a pedestrian who makes as much money as Mr Bill Gates, the motorist may well be slapped with a multi-billion-dollar suit. Lawyers say that there is an unwritten law, known as the "thin-skull" rule, which protects the rights of accident victims. Thus if a pedestrian, who is already blind in one eye, loses the other eye as well in an accident, the negligent driver will be forced to compensate him for causing total blindness. Said lawyer Karuppan Chettiar: "Once the victim proves you have been negligent and no reasonable care was taken to avoid the accident, damages can be claimed." But the victim has to prove that the amount of damages he is seeking is reasonable. No court will compel the defendant to pay if the victim makes an unreasonable demand, he said. For example, a court may ask the defendant to pay the taxi fares of a claimant who loses the use of his car in an accident. But it will not ask the defendant to reimburse claimants who inflate their losses by renting luxurious cars to chauffeur them around.
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 The Straits Times Interactive AUG 6 2000 Motorcyclist proves driver to blame for crash Undergraduate convinces court that pick-up driver was fully responsible for road accident which left her badly hurt and dependent on crutches By ALETHEA LIM AN UNDERGRADUATE has succeeded in proving to the court that a pick-up driver was to blame for a road accident which has left her dependent on crutches to walk. Miss Bernice Amelia Tan, 23, sued the driver, contractor Loh Chee Song, 29, in the High Court for negligence and colliding into her motorcycle on July 18 last year. The accident left her badly hurt. On Friday, Justice Judith Prakash held Mr Loh fully responsible for the crash. The National University of Singapore student is asking for an estimated $400,000 in damages. The actual amount she will receive from Mr Loh's insurers will be decided at a separate hearing. On the day of the accident, Miss Tan approached a traffic junction at East Coast Road and Still Road on her 250-cc Suzuki motorcycle at about 7 pm. As the traffic light was green, she continued riding, sounding her horn and flashing her lights as a precaution. But when she reached the centre of the junction, Mr Loh sped into her path suddenly and collided into her. The accident left Miss Tan with several fractures in her right leg that required her to be hospitalised for more than a month. She underwent several operations but a medical report said she will need more to relieve her pain and correct her disability. In his defence, Mr Loh said it was Miss Tan who beat a red light and crashed into him. However, he had admitted to inconsiderate driving when he was taken to court and fined $1,000 last October. His lawyer, Mr Ganesh Ramanathan, argued on Friday that even if the driver had ""encroached'' into Miss Tan's path, she did little to protect herself. Instead of slowing down at the junction, she had picked up speed, he said. But Miss Tan's lawyer, Ms Foo Yuk Lin, argued that if her client had crashed into the pick-up, the front of her motorcycle would have been damaged and not its right side. Moreover, the damage to Mr Loh's lorry was at the right corner of the front bumper and front signal light, proving that it was he who had crashed into Miss Tan.
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The Straits Times Interactive MAY 4 2000 Driver sped off after hitting motorbike The victim noted down the licence plate of the car; police found the car and arrested the driver for drink-driving after a breathalyser test By DEBBIE GOH A MOTORIST who knocked a motorcyclist and his wife off their machine and sped off was arrested barely an hour later for drink-driving. He will be released on bail of $10,000 with one surety, a police spokesman said. Mr Edwin Lee, 43, a motorcycle repair-shop owner, was riding with his wife along Hougang Avenue 3 before the junction of Kim Chuan Road at 11.50 pm when it happened. The car hit his motorcycle from behind. Mr Lee and his wife, Madam Christobel Tan, 47, fell on the road. He was not hurt, but his wife was warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital with head injuries. The driver of the car did not stop to help Mr Lee and his wife, but sped off in the direction of Ang Mo Kio, the police spokesman said. Mr Lee managed to note down the car's licence-plate number and reported it to the police. A team of investigators swung into action immediately. They went to the driver's home. Near his home, they found an unattended car with its front left portion damaged in a parking lot at Block 230, Serangoon Avenue 4. They then raided the driver's apartment and gave him a breathalyser test, the spokesman said. Results of the test showed that the amount of alcohol in the driver's breath was above the legal limit of 35 micrograms. The man was arrested for drink driving at 12.55 am early yesterday morning. When The Straits Times visited Madam Tan at the hospital yesterday, she was sleeping. She had bruises around her left eye. Mr Lee was neither at the hospital nor at his workshop and could not be contacted. One of his workers - identifying himself only as Jason - said Mr Lee and his wife, who live in Hougang, had closed their shop in Changi Road late on Tuesday evening and were on their way home when the accident occurred.
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