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Ahlia Insurance to pay only Dh0.5m over car accident

DUBAI — The Dubai Court of Cassation has upheld the verdict of lower courts in directing Al Ain Ahlia Insurance Company to pay Dh500,000 to Mohammad Deen M. K., towards compensation for injuries he suffered in a car accident on January 22, 2004.

Mohammad Deen filed a case against the insurance company and M. M. Afdal in the Court of First Instance seeking a compensation of Dh1,200,000 for injuries he suffered.

According to the case history, Mohammad Deen filed a case against the insurance company and M.M. Afdal in the Court of First Instance seeking a compensation of Dh1,200,000 for injuries he suffered in an accident involving the car driven by Afdal.

Mohammad Deen, who was in the car with Afdal when the accident occured, suffered injuries which caused permanent disability. The driver was proven guilty and fined Dh800. The car was insured with Al Ain Ahlia Insurance Company, and hence Mohammad Deen filed a lawsuit demanding the compensation for physical and psychological damage he suffered in the accident.

The court, however, ordered the company to pay Dh500,000 with five per cent annual interest against the demand for Dh 1,200,000.

Both the company and the plaintiff appealed against the verdict, but the Appeals Court upheld the lower court's verdict. Subsequently, Mohammad Deen accepted the decision, but the company approached the Court of Cassation.

The insurance company argued that the verdict should be annulled on grounds that the so called total disability was an exaggeration. The injury was partial displacement of vertebra C5 and C6, and the compensation for this should not exceed Dh200, 000, it contended.

The court, rejecting the appeal, observed that the compensation was for psychological damage as well as physical damage, and considering the fact that the plaint was perfectly healthy before the accident, the lower courts verdict was in order.