Legal practitioners, particularly those dealing pre- dominantly with RAF matters, are by now aware of the Elizabeth Jemma Sweatman v the Road Accident Fund 2013 JDR 2821 (WCC) judgement.
This matter was heard on October 15 and 16 2013 and judgement was granted on December 3 in the Western Cape High Court. Even though there was consensus between the parties on most aspects of the case, there was a difference in the actuarial approach in computing the future loss of earnings. The respective actuaries adopted their own approach when it came to the application of the Statutory Cap in terms of s17(4)(a)(i) read with s17(4A)(b), which was introduced by s6 of the Road Accident Fund Amendment Act (19 of 2005) and came into operation on August 1 2008. The Statutory cap is directed at the higher income group. Most ordinary South Africans have earnings that are far lower than the statutory cap and, therefore, it has no effect on their claim for loss of earnings.
Click here to download the full article by Tasneem Antulay, a partner of Maponya.