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RAF wants payout laws changed

19 Apr 2012

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) wants sweeping changes made to laws governing payouts to accident victims, The Herald reports. The RAF's chief operating officer Andre Gernandt told Parliament's portfolio committee on transport that new laws were necessary to prevent attorneys from holding back on payouts and running up legal costs.

"Two years ago we lost a case in the Cape High Court when we wanted to implement a system where we could pay the compensation directly to the claimants," Gernandt said.

The RAF currently paid everything to lawyers who held back the money "sometimes for months", Gernandt said, adding that "the high court stopped us. [We want the right] to pay compensation directly to the accident victim and the legal cost to the attorney." Gernandt said that attorneys were taking "three or four million" rand, or 25 to 30 percent of the lump sum. It would be preferable to see payments done in instalments instead. The RAF also asks MPs to draft a law that will specify a list of documents that the attorneys must give to the fund, so that claims can be settled within 120 days. "What happens is [that] before 120 days the attorneys give minimum information, and then on the 121st day they summons us, and from there they start running up legal costs," Gernandt said.

Read the full article on www.peherald.com.