Derek Achong
An errant driver and his insurance company have been ordered to pay almost $5 million in compensation to a former professional diver, who was left with serious orthopaedic and psychological injuries following a car accident in 2016.
Andrel Flemming and Trinre Insurance Company Limited were ordered to pay the compensation to Anthony Dass by High Court Master Martha Alexander in a 19-page decision delivered late last month.
According to the evidence in the case, on July 15, 2016, Dass was driving along Rivulet Road, in Couva, when Flemming, who was driving in the opposite direction, veered negligently into Dass’ lane and crashed head-on into his vehicle.
Dass sustained 11 fractured bones and had to undergo six surgeries. He was also left with serious permanent psychiatric injuries.
“The claimant suffered severe fractures to both legs, right arm, shoulder, lower back, pelvis, and a chest injury in addition to serious psychological injury and remained with major scarring,” she said.
Dass filed the lawsuit in 2018 and a consent order in which Flemming and the company accepted liability was entered by a High Court Judge, who referred the case to Alexander to assess the compensation owed.
In the decision, Alexander noted that Dass’ extensive physical injuries meant that he could no longer work as a professional diver or engage in his usual leisure activities of hunting and spear fishing.
“On the evidence, what occurred was the commission of a tort that wrecked the life of the claimant, both physically and psychologically, while he was yet at the relatively young age of 33,” Alexander said.
She noted that it was rare for the court to consider a case of a combination of such serious physical and psychological injuries in one claimant.
She pointed out that Dass presented the evidence of mental health experts, who diagnosed him as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.
The majority of the compensation awarded to Dass represented his loss of earnings while recovering from his injuries and his future loss of earnings had he not been injured in the accident.
In his evidence, Dass’ lawyers submitted that before the accident, he was employed both by now-defunct Petrotrin and a private diving company and would earn almost $2,000 a day.
When assessing his future loss of earnings, Alexander used a multiplier of 15 as he was 38-years-old at the time of the assessment and applied a 25 per cent reduction for contingencies such as sick days, holidays and taxation.
Dass was awarded $400,000 in general damages for his pain and suffering and $27,000 to cover some of his medical bills.
Alexander also ordered Flemming and the company to pay him $55,000 for future scar surgery although the company challenged the fee as they claimed that it was cosmetic.
“This argument was rejected outright as against the weight of the evidence and self-serving,” she said.
Flemming and the company were also ordered to pay $234,118.76 in legal costs for Dass having to pursue the claim.
As part of her decision, Alexander deducted $250,000 from the compensation, which represented an interim payment made by the company prior to the assessment, and granted a 35 day stay of execution.
Dass was represented by Shawn Roopnarine and Anand Rampersad while Shivana Lalla and Rachel Richards represented Flemming and the company.
