Adu Dhabi court orders truck driver to pay Dhs20,000 for running over a colleague

Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Cases Court obligated a worker to pay a compensation of Dhs20,000 to another worker for running over him while driving a truck and reversing it in their workplace.

Earlier, the victim filed a lawsuit against four parties; namely, the truck driver, the company where the accident took place, the truck owner and the plaintiff’s employer.

He requested the court to obligate them to pay him Dhs51,000 as a compensation for the injuries he sustained plus a 12 per cent legal interest from the date the lawsuit was filed until full payment.

The victim stated in his lawsuit that he had sustained multiple fractures in his bones and other parts of his body, as proven by the medical report, due to the defendants’ error.

He pleaded that the defendants did not fulfill their professional obligations by failing to take safety and security measures, watch what workers do in the workplace and take precautions to protect workers from injury.

The driver was driving his truck in reverse when he ran over him inside a workplace belonging to the company, he said, adding that as a result, a criminal case was filed against the defendant under which he was fined Dhs3,000, which was paid.

In view of the harms and injuries he suffered, he filed the current lawsuit against the other three defendants because he believed they were liable for some errors that they committed and led to what happened.

According to the medical report, the plaintiff’s disability was estimated at 10 per cent as he suffered from multiple fractures in the three cuneiform bones, metatarsal bones and phalanges of the left foot plus a dislocation of the proximal joint of the second big toe of the left foot.

The plaintiff was unable to bear weight on the forefoot of the left foot and complained of a pain when standing for a long time, walking for a long distance and going upstairs and downstairs, not to mention that he was unable to run and jump, the report added.

The court explained that it was evident from the criminal judgment and the forensic report that the plaintiff, 41, who was employed as a worker, sustained multiple injuries that left him with a permanent disability.

The injuries also caused pain and feelings of grief and sadness due to his inability to return as a normal worker as his peers, which might lead him to lose job opportunities, be deprived of a chance to complete some work and face a drop in income.

The court ruled that an estimated general compensation of Dhs20,000 should be paid by the driver to the plaintiff to cover all the harms he sustained but rejected the request for interest as being unnecessary.