Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
Divorce, Maintenance, Personal Injury, Medical Negligence
The Road Accident Fund is making a big noise about taking on lots of cases themselves at the moment. I, like many attorneys, am continually approached by people who have their cases with the Road Accident Fund. Most of the time they complain that nothing has happened in 2 or 3 years, because of course the Road Accident Fund does not tell them to issue a summons against them. It must be very difficult for a Road Accident Fund employer on the one hand to try and help the claimant and on the other hand to adopt the usual tactics of the Road Accident Fund which is to offer less than a case is worth.
We would not after all be taking so many cases to court if the Road Accident Fund was making appropriate and fair offers right from day one, so why any member of the public would like to put themselves in the hands of the Road Accident Fund, unless they have a really minimal claim, I cannot understand.
The latest case we have just taken on is the case of a paraplegic who received a good settlement from the Road Accident Fund for general damages of R1,8 million – and settled the case himself. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell him that he could also sue for any loss of income that he may have as well as his past medical expenses and both of those were left out of the settlement. We will now, on his behalf, have to issue a summons against the Road Accident Fund and sue them, as if it were another attorney, for under-settling the client’s claim. This is certainly not an isolated case and there are numerous attorneys across the country who deal with such cases. It certainly illustrates the peril of taking a substantial claim to the Road Accident Fund directly, in an effort to avoid legal fees, because what you save will in most cases be far outweighed by what you are going to lose by your claim being under-settled.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Thursday 13-Nov-14
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Comments
conny dikeldi paile said:
on Wednesday 25-Nov-20 10:52 AM
can my payout made in 2017 be reviewed do to unsatisfied?
Siphiwe said:
on Wednesday 11-Sep-19 03:56 PM
a lady friend of mine was involved in a car accident in 2002 and had sustained serious head injuries that left her with a scar at the back of the head and now she is constantly missing work due to migrain pains and eyes problems, when i ask her how much she claimed after the accident she says they offered her 20 000 rand, is that amount fair and if not can she still re-open a case as i feel this was a dodgy deal from both her lawyer and RAF, your response will be highly appreciated.
shima maake said:
on Friday 21-Jul-17 09:08 AM
why is RAF taking so long to settle the matters when everyday there is always accident?
nicolene said:
on Monday 27-Jun-16 09:06 AM
I would like to know how long does it take for the RAF to pay out after a settlement was agreed on at the High Court. I am waiting for a payout that was agreed on on the 2 March 2016. Seems like this is a never-ending story with no conclution.
shaun said:
on Thursday 05-Nov-15 03:12 PM
I need a legal team.
Need information on my injuries and payout
As well as the underwriting RAF Certificate.
I would really appreciate it.
Left knee injury
Pelvis open book fracture
Head injury
And only got R420......
KEFILWE said:
on Sunday 18-Oct-15 09:21 AM
You are all correct, it is best to claim through a lawyer, My case is both IOD and RAF,I did not get compensated at work reason being my orthopaedic says I am fine on my Final report and that there was no broken bone on my spine, Only to find out that my I have a neuromuscular injuries, he should have at least referred me because I am still experiencing pain and its been five years now. He was also using the wrong MRI scan(lying down. He should have ordered Upright MRI,because my problem is posture specific and standing up is my symptomatic symptoms. Now I am left with a bend spine but still he was saying I am fine.
mbuso said:
on Thursday 15-Oct-15 07:44 AM
I'v signed with three attorney for claims, the other two approached me while I waz still in hospital,..and the other one i choose her to represent me...so izit possible that all of them handling the same case? Because now I dnt know what to do..because they said my claim might fail
Tersia said:
on Thursday 20-Nov-14 12:26 PM
Its a disgrace how the RAF can do this to people that are not able to provide for themselves or maybe even be on their own anymore and that needs the money maybe more than anybody else at this stage of their lives. Its really sad and how they can live with themselves knowing that they gave someone less than they deserve... But it doesn't surprise me at all coming from them, but luckily there are places like De Broglio to help people out and to help people get what they really deserve!
Sinead said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:50 PM
This is no surprise... I just can't believe the RAF can rip people off like this but it's also the people that claim that think they know what's going on when they don't...
Sinead said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:49 PM
This is no surprise... I just can't believe the RAF can rip people off like this but it's also the people that claim that think they know what's going on when they don't...
Sinead said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:49 PM
This is no surprise... I just can't believe the RAF can rip people off like this but it's also the people that claim that think they know what's going on when they don't...
Sinead said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:48 PM
This is no surprise... I just can't believe the RAF can rip people off like this but it's also the people that claim that think they know what's going on when they don't...
Sinead said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:46 PM
This is no surprise... I just can't believe the RAF can rip people off like this but it's also the people that claim that think they know what's going on when they don't...
Nicky said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:39 PM
I agree with Jade's comment-if the RAF takes so long to make payments and finalise matters with attorneys how much worse is it if unrepresented people approach the the Fund.
One thing, in particularly, that gets to me is that the Raf when doing their press releases always create the impression that Attorneys are out to steal the public's money and how much attorneys fee are etc-but never mention that the only reason attorneys even have to get involved in the first place is because the Fund do not make fair offers after lodgement in order to avoid all the legal costs. It's their own delayed, lazy approach that result in them having to pay any Attorneys fees. And even at the end of the case the claimant yet again ends up getting the short end of the stick as the RAF takes long to pay their capital as a result of empty bank accounts!
Nicky said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:38 PM
I agree with Jade's comment-if the RAF takes so long to make payments and finalise matters with attorneys how much worse is it if unrepresented people approach the the Fund.
One thing, in particularly, that gets to me is that the Raf when doing their press releases always create the impression that Attorneys are out to steal the public's money and how much attorneys fee are etc-but never mention that the only reason attorneys even have to get involved in the first place is because the Fund do not make fair offers after lodgement in order to avoid all the legal costs. It's their own delayed, lazy approach that result in them having to pay any Attorneys fees. And even at the end of the case the claimant yet again ends up getting the short end of the stick as the RAF takes long to pay their capital as a result of empty bank accounts!
Jade said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 04:13 PM
When one considers how incredibly long the Road Accident Fund takes to pay out the money that is due to out clients, and the legal processes that we have to follow in order to force them to comply with an order of court, I cannot imagine how a regular person with no legal experience gets paid AT ALL from the Road Accident Fund. I would never suggest that a person claims directly from the Road Accident Fund unless it was merely just a small claim for past meds etc.
Catherine said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 10:53 AM
With the knowledge that a good population of South Africans do not like to read, the Road Accident Fund is taking full advantage by advertisement on TV which catches a whole lot of peoples attention. On the other hand, a lot of Attorneys do not advertise hence many people do not have the knowledge that one can get far much better results if they claim through an Attorney than claiming directly from the RAF.
Liesl said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 10:36 AM
That's why I think it's good thing that you flight as many adds as you do. It really is helping the public to be better informed. Without that the public would have been none the wiser and left with the belief that a RAF representative is all they have to work with.
Liesl said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 08:51 AM
That's why I think it's good thing that you flight as many adds as you do. It really is helping the public to be better informed. Without that the public would have been none the wiser and left with the belief that a RAF representative is all they have to work with.
Helen said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 08:27 AM
As per previous discussions about how people in this country are educated and reading media I will say majority will not know how RAF claims works. And of course when RAF representatives catching poor accident survivors in the hospitals when the accident was still very fresh - the person will go with the first option and will not even think that there can be much better options where there is possibility to claim more. We do not know what stories RAF are telling about all Attorneys on the market?
Mathilda said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 08:24 AM
I think too many people are under the impression that to claim directly through the RAF is going to be so much quicker and they will get a good settlement amount and in the end they actually get ripped off.The RAF gives the client what they think is "fair" and they will not tell the client what they can claim for and what the actual worth of there claim is.I think every claimant deserves a fair trial.
Thabitha said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 08:22 AM
People from RAF are making lots of noise about how they are paying good money to clients when they do claim direct to RAF and people like free things
Alexis said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 08:14 AM
Just contacting them to settle a matter out of court is a huge mission. Something as simple as past medical expenses and they do nothing. At least with having an Attorney do something, something will be done and we will get the client what they deserve, not the under settlement that the RAF will provide them with.
Nikita said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 07:52 AM
I recently had a client who told me that there are RAF representatives going around and persuading people to use the RAF directly and not go through attorneys. They are bragging about the fact that they have settled around 5000 cases without attorneys An Advocate told me that little do the public know, the average settlement they are giving is around R26 000.00
Brumilde said:
on Friday 14-Nov-14 07:41 AM
Nothing really surprises me when it comes to the RAF. As long as they can avoid payment in big amounts they will be happy
Sally said:
on Thursday 13-Nov-14 03:39 PM
I think that people are so easily influenced by news and advertisements that they go with the option that looks the easiest and are advertised the most. For example all the bad publicity of the Attorneys stealing client's money will obviously make people think that it is better going to the Road Accident Fund directly.
Kaylee said:
on Thursday 13-Nov-14 12:00 PM
I agree with Anna's comment.
There is a reason by experts handle the cases. Unfortunately the public is often under the misconception that the attorneys take all the money, but this is obviously not the case and at the end of the day they are only prejudicing themselves by not letting the experts handle their claim.
Lourien said:
on Thursday 13-Nov-14 11:38 AM
There are always different types of claims some tend to take longer than others and the main reason for this is that your matter may be such a big matter which would need so much more information that needs to be obtained to receive a good settlement. There should always be work done on files, especially keeping the clients informed about every process.
The RAF can try and delay all claims from settling as well as settling them for far less and excluding large amounts of the claim, but in the first one or two years is the most crucial as the claim needs to be lodged within the relevant time period. When the RAF has not worked on your matter for a short period of time, you should start to wonder if the matter will be settled at all, as they need to inform you and there are so many procedures that needs to be followed to settle the claim and even settling it for the right amount when they are defending themselves.
Attorneys have experience in these type of procedures and know what steps should be taken one after another, taking every step and all the work into consideration of daily correspondence and updating is very important which just shows once again that Attorneys should not be taken out of this equation.
Anna said:
on Thursday 13-Nov-14 10:17 AM
Just as I wouldn't self medicate or operate on myself if I sustained a broken leg rather choosing to consult with and to receive treatment from specialists/professional doctors, members of the public need to understand that their RAF claims need to be handled by respectable, experienced attorneys who specialise in third party claims.
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
