Accident victim win claim
against Anbessa City bus enterprise
- Court awards him 150,000 birr in compensation
By Tibebeselassie Tigabu
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia- An individual has won a law suit against
the Anbessa City bus enterprise, a public bus service amounting
to 150,000 birr [~16,000 USD; 1 USd= ~ 9.48 birr] for injuries
he sustained after being hit by one of the buses operated by the
enterprise.
The individual Mr. Fetene Nigussie was hit by an Anbessa bus on
February, 2003 which resulted in him having to loose a leg and
an arm. At the time Anbessa city bus enterprise’s insurance
carrier, the Ethiopian insurance Corporation paid an amount of
30,000 birr [~3,000 USd] in damages to the plaintiff. The amount
was paid to Fetene as per the agreement reached between the insurer
and the City Bus Administration which was the maximum payment
the insurer would pay in case of accidents.
But the compensation was not enough for Fetene as he had finished
a significant amount of the money on medical expenses and could
not finish his medical treatment. This prompted Fetene to contact
the Ethiopian Bar Association (EBA), a non-profit and non-partisan
professional association of attorneys to seek their free legal
aid services.
EBA on behalf of Fetene took the anbessa city bus enterprise to
seek additional compensation. Anbessa in response stated that
Fetene Nigussie had signed an agreement not to seek additional
money when he accepted the 30,000 birr compensation.
EBA argued in court that Fetene signed the agreement with insurer
without legal counsel and was not familiar with the legal matters
involved in his case. In addition EBA argued that the agreement
was between the plaintiff and the insurer and Fetene had legal
recourse to sue Anbessa. Based on the arguments presented by EBA
on behalf of Fetene the court accepted the appeal and reached
a verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
After three years into litigation Anbessa bus was initially asked
to pay for damages totaling 175,000 birr [ 18,000 USD] by the
federal higher court but upon subsequent appeals the sum was reduced
to 150,000 birr.
“Fetene was 23 at the time of the accident and according
to the life expectancy of Ethiopia it is estimated that this guy
will live 56 years he can’t work so he has to hire employees
and considering all the facts the jury passed a verdict and the
victim was given 150,000 birr on march 19 [2008] was given to
him”, said Meheretab Leul, a lawyer at EBA.
“The victim Fetene when he came to our office he didn’t
even finish his medical treatment so we tried to help him if he
wanted legal service for money it would have cost him 25,000 birr
for sure he can’t afford this so we did it for free and
so many people have the same experience and lost hope where to
go and what to do and what they should know is we have like 450
members so people are welcome to come and get free legal aid services
and I am consulting the victim Fetene how to invest his money”,
explains Leul.
Traffic accidents in Ethiopia are among the highest in the world
by far exceeding the rates in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. Around
2,000 people die of car accidents in Ethiopia every year while
thousands of others sustain injuries. According to the WHO, Ethiopia
has the highest rate of fatalities per vehicle in the world. Uganda
ranks second in road fatality rates in the world behind Ethiopia.
Emergency medical systems are often poor and injury prevention
programs are rarely available.
March 29, 2008
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