AIIF Risk Alert – 01 of 2005

The last Risk Alert Bulletin issued by the AIIF was published in February and contains articles on inter alia the following:

• A policy query is answered in which the correspondent writes "I am a single practitioner. I registered my client's MVA claim with the Prescription Alert (PA) and the claim subsequently prescribed. Does the 15% loading still apply to my deductible of R35 000, even though I was registered on the system?"
  
• The validity of Regulation 2(3) of the Road Accident Fund, Act 56 of 1996 is discussed in light of the case of Gildenhuys and Joubert v Zendra van Wyk and Road Accident Fund 471/203 SCA. Regulation 2(3) requires claims for compensation from the Road Accident Fund ("the Fund"), for loss of damage caused by unidentified vehicles, to be lodged within two years.
  
• Ronald Bobroff, in his analysis of the situation that has emerged consequent upon the judgment of Road Accident Fund vs Thugwana 575/2002 SCA, writes that; "It is now imperative for every attorney accepting instructions in any matter, where there is the remotest prospect of the responsible vehicle being unidentified, to see to it, where the instructions are received early enough, that the claimant lodges the required affidavit with the police. Practically there is little a profession can do to inform what will be approximately 300 000 South Africans who will sustain injury on the roads during the next twelve months of the danger many of them will face in not having any claims consequent upon the ignorance of Regulation 2(1)(c)."