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Savitha v. M/s Chodamandalam M.S. General Insurance Company Ltd. and Others

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 430Decided 16 Jun 2020
Civil Appeal No. 2611 of 2020
Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice Navin Sinha · Justice B.R. Gavai

Background

A housewife travelling in a bus was seriously injured in 2008 when a lorry rashly collided with the bus, causing her nine injuries (seven of them grievous) that required two surgeries and left her unable to do housework or walk without crutches. The treating surgeon assessed her whole-body disability at 32%, but the Claims Tribunal reduced this to 15% in its compensation award, and the High Court on appeal only partially corrected this, fixing it at 20% and modestly raising the overall compensation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had no good reason to depart from the treating doctor's own medical opinion that the appellant suffered a 32% whole-body disability, and reinstated that figure for calculating her loss of future earning capacity. It also found the amount awarded for "loss of amenities and future happiness" inadequate given the severity of her injuries and increased it from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000. However, it upheld the rejection of her claim to a higher income as a tailor, since she had not provided evidence to support that claim. Recalculating the compensation using the corrected disability percentage, the Court raised her total award to Rs. 7,54,910 with 6% interest.

Lesson Learnt

In personal injury compensation cases, courts should generally give due weight to the treating doctor's documented medical assessment of disability rather than arbitrarily reducing it without a clear reason, but claimants must still back up disputed income claims with actual evidence, not just assertions.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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