Crash victim awarded $872k in damages but $420k maid claim rejected
A 28-year-old man, who suffered brain injury after the motorcycle on which he was riding pillion collided with a taxi, was yesterday awarded damages of nearly $872,000 in the negligence suit he filed against his friend.
However, the High Court rejected Mr Danial Syafiq Mahbob’s claim for $420,000 to employ a domestic worker to look after him because he suffers from epileptic fits after the 2013 accident.
His mother told the court that someone should be at hand to ensure that he was able to breathe if he has a seizure. He also needed someone to communicate with him, cook for him and remind him to take his medication, she added.
But Senior Judge Andrew Ang, in a written judgment, said Mr Danial Syafiq was able to carry on the activities of daily living, to take public transport to go skateboarding and even to take videos while doing so.
Justice Ang noted that the frequency of the fits had tapered off to just one episode in 2018. He also accepted medical evidence that the plaintiff was unlikely to stop breathing if he had another seizure.
“It has not been proved... that the plaintiff would need a domestic helper on account of his condition brought about by the accident,” said the judge.
On April 17, 2013, days after he enrolled in a diploma course, Mr Danial Syafiq suffered traumatic brain injury in a crash between the motorcycle ridden by his friend, Mr Amin Juman Abdul Jabbar, and a taxi driven by Mr Mohammed Faizal Ismail.
In 2016, he sued both men but did not pursue the case against the cabby. Mr Amin Juman agreed to bear full liability but pulled the cabby back into the case as a third party to contribute to the damages.
A report by Mr Danial Syafiq’s neurosurgeon said the accident left him with life-long cognitive and memory problems.
He also suffered 46 seizures from November 2013 to June 2018. Most of them occurred between 2013 and 2015, with six episodes in 2016, four in 2017 and one in 2018.
Justice Ang awarded a total of $671,873.50 in general damages, including for pain and suffering, loss of future earnings and future medical expenses.
He also awarded $200,101.45 in special damages, which included $113,728.59 for loss of earnings of his mother, who took leave from work to care for him.
Mr Danial Syafiq had claimed loss of future earnings of between $730,080 and $1.26 million.
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