Unlicensed driver causes fatal UAE crash: Court orders Dh295,294 repayment to insurance company

Abu Dhabi: The Al Ain Civil, Commercial and Administrative Court ruled that two young men must pay Dh295,294 to an insurance company, after it was proven that the first individual drove the vehicle owned by the second without a licence, and caused a traffic accident that resulted in the death of the driver of another vehicle and damage to two vehicles. The Court confirmed the right of the insurance company to recover from them the amounts it paid as compensation to the victims. The criminal court had obligated the second defendant, the owner of the vehicle, to pay Dh200,000, the value of the legal blood money, so that the total amount paid was Dh495,294. In detail, an insurance company filed a lawsuit against two young men, demanding that they pay Dh295,294, in addition to fees, expenses, attorney's fees, and legal interest at a rate of 12% from the date of filing the lawsuit until full payment, with the judgment being subject to immediate enforcement. The company indicated that the first defendant drove the vehicle owned by the second defendant and insured by it, without having a driver's licence, which led, as a result of his error, to a traffic accident that caused damage to others and resulted in the death of the driver of another vehicle, and a final criminal judgment of conviction was issued against him. The plaintiff indicated that, as the insurer, she committed to paying the compensation due to the victims, totalling Dh295,294, distributed as follows: Dh60,818 as compensation for the total loss of the two damaged vehicles, and Dh227,706 paid to the heirs of the deceased, the driver of the second vehicle, in implementation of the insurance dispute decision, in addition to Dh6,770 for ambulance fees to transport the deceased. She then filed her lawsuit based on her legal right to seek recourse against the driver and owner of the vehicle for the compensation she paid, in accordance with the recourse cases stipulated in the unified insurance policy, due to the proven fact that the vehicle was driven by a person who did not have a driver's licence. For its part, the Court explained in its ruling that the criminal judgment proved that the first defendant committed the accident as a result of his error and negligence, and that he was driving the vehicle without obtaining a driver's licence. It ruled to convict him of the charges of causing the death of the victim by mistake, damaging two vehicles, not complying with traffic signs, and driving without a licence, and punished him with a fine, and obligated him to pay the legal blood money to the heirs of the victim, amounting to Dh200,000, in addition to paying the expiation for unintentional killing. It noted that the plaintiff company, in accordance with its insurance obligation, paid the victims compensation amounts totalling Dh295,294, which proves the insurance company's right to seek reimbursement of the compensation it paid from the insured and the driver of the vehicle and to recover the compensation amounts it paid to the victims in accordance with the provisions of the unified vehicle insurance policy. The Court clarified that the second defendant’s claim that he paid the legal blood money amount of Dh200,000 and requested that it be deducted from the amount claimed is baseless, as the plaintiff company filed its claim after it had paid compensation for the damage to the vehicles, in addition to the compensation due for the material and moral damages to the heirs of the deceased, while the amount paid by the second defendant was in implementation of the final criminal judgment that obligated him alone to pay the legal blood money, which is an obligation independent of the civil compensations paid by the company, and therefore its right remains to return and recover the amounts it paid as compensation to the victims. The court ruled that the defendants must pay the plaintiff company the sum of Dh295,294, and the late payment interest at a rate of (3%) per annum on the sum awarded from the date of the lawsuit until full payment, not exceeding the original sum awarded. It also obligated them to pay the fees and expenses of the lawsuit, the expert's deposit, and the sum of Dh300 for attorney's fees.