Tortuous liability in road accident cases
Md Safiullah
A recent report published by Bangladesh Jatri Kallan Somity shows that nearly 4,000 people died of road accident in the last six months from January to July
Recently a landmark judgment was given by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh comprising a full bench headed by the Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain. The order upholding the judgment of the High Court Division to compensate the victim’s family in a case involving the death of Mozammel Hossain Montu, a former News Editor of the “Daily Sangbad,” in a road accident more than two decades ago. In this case, a truck owned by Bangladesh Beverage Industries Limited (BBIL) had run over Mozammel Hossain in front of Ananda Bhaban in Dhaka’s Kakrail on December 3, 1989. He died after few days in the same year while undergoing a week long treatment.
On January 1, 1991, Mantu’s wife filed a case with a Dhaka court, seeking Tk3.52 crore as compensation from BBIL. The lower court in its verdict on March 20, 2005, directed the company to pay the amount to the wife and two sons of Mantu. BBIL appealed to the High Court against the verdict, saying the company could not be held liable for the driver’s mistake. The High Court, however, rejected the plea in 2010, saying the company could indeed be asked to pay compensation, and fixed the sum at Tk20mn. Finally, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court disposed of an appeal filed by the BBIL challenging the verdict given by the High Court Division.
Khalilur, the counsel for Mantu’s wife pointed out that the Supreme Court verdict was a landmark one, saying that the owner of the vehicle had been directed to compensate for the offence of the negligent driver. In the reasoning of the decision, the trial court considered tortuous liability on the basis of the doctrine of vicarious liability. The basis of the doctrine is a maxim that says, Nam qui facit per alium facit per se which means he who does an act through another is deemed in law to have done it himself. This is a maxim often stated in discussing the liability of an employer for the act of his/her employee.
Historically, tort has its roots in criminal procedure. Even today there is punitive element in some aspects of the rules of damages. Considering civil wrong, the court made BBIL liable and ordered to pay compensation. Now, this judgment will be a precedent and as a result victim’s family will be able to seek compensation in similar cases in the future.
Road accident is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh. A recent report published by Bangladesh Jatri Kallan Somity shows that nearly 4,000 people died of road accident in the last six months from January to July. Most of the victims’ families took legal action but no proper remedy was given except for few circumstances. The questions are, under which law were the cases filed and what relief was sought in those cases?
It can clearly be mentioned here that the victims’ families tend to file criminal cases under penal code as the offences are of criminal in nature and their ultimate demand is to put the offenders behind bars. However, that hardly helps victim’s families to survive in society since in some cases the victims of the road accidents are the only earning members of their families. Therefore, tortuous liability should be invoked more often in these cases to seek compensation from the perpetrators for the family members as they are tertiary victims of the incidents
- See more at:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/juris/2014/aug/14/tortuous-liability-road-accident-cases#sthash.75WmHPOW.CqAEyLXc.dpuf
