TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2005 (3) TMI 835
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....was claimed. After considering the evidence on record, the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Perumbavoor (in short the 'MACT') awarded Rs. 4,68,825 with 9% interest from the date of application till payment. The figure was arrived at in the following manner:- 1. Rs. 2,88, 000 for loss of earning; 2. Rs. 2,600 towards transport to hospital; 3. Rs. 4,000 for extra nourishment expenses; 4. Rs. 250 for damage to clothing; 5. Rs. 1,18,975 for medical expenses; 6. Rs. 15,000 for pain and suffering; 7. Rs. 40,000 towards compensation for continuing or permanent disability. Total Rs. 4,68,825 3. In appeal filed by the insurer-appellant the amount granted for permanent disability was deleted. 4. In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the age of the injured was about 37 years and a multiplier of 16 was adopted on the ground that there was permanent disability and, therefore, deprivation of contribution is on the higher side. Strong reliance is placed on the decisions of this Court in General Manager, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation Trivandrum v. Susamma Thomas (Mrs....
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....The rule in common law in Baker v. Bolton 1979 (1) All ER 774 enunciated by Lord Ellenborough was that "in a Civil Court, the death of a human being could not be complained of as a injury,". Indeed, the maxim action personal is moritur cum persona, had the effect that all actions in tort, with very few exceptions, also became extinguished with that person. Great changes were brought about by the Fatal Accidents Act, 1846 (now Fatal Accidents Act, 1976) and the Law Reforms (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1934. Under the statute, as indeed under the Indian Statute as well, there are two separate and distinct cause of action, which are maintainable in consequence of a person's death. There were the dependant's claim for the financial loss suffered and acclaim for injury, loss or damage, which the deceased would have had, had he lived, and which survives for the benefit of his estate. 9. The measure of damage is the pecuniary loss suffered and is likely to be suffered by each dependant. Thus "except where there is express statutory direction to the contrary, the damages to be awarded to a dependant of a deceased person under the Fatal Accidents Acts must take into account an....
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.... often many imponderables. In every case "it is the overall picture that matters", and the court must try to assess as best as it can the loss suffered. 13. There were two methods adopted to determine and for calculation of compensation in fatal accident actions, the first the multiplier mentioned in Davies case (supra) and the second in Nance v. British Columbia Electric Railway Co. Ltd. 1951 (2) All ER 448. 14. The multiplier method involves the ascertainment of the loss of dependency or the multiplicand having regard to the circumstances of the case and capitalizing the multiplicand by an appropriate multiplier. The choice of the multiplier is determined by the age of the deceased (or that of the claimants whichever is higher) and by the calculation as to what capital sum, if invested at a rate of interest appropriate to a stable economy, would yield the multiplicand by way of annual interest. In ascertaining this, regard should also be had to the fact that ultimately the capital sum should also be consumed-up over the period for which the dependency is expected to last. 15. The considerations generally relevant in the selection of multiplicand and multiplier were adver....
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....ciple thus: "98. Assessment of damages under the Fatal Accident Act, 1976 - The courts have evolved a method for calculating the amount of pecuniary benefit that dependants could reasonably expect to have received from the deceased in the future. First the annual value to the dependants of those benefits (the multiplicand) is assessed. In the ordinary case of the death of a wage-earner that figure is arrived at by deducting from the wages the estimated amount of his own personal and living expenses. The assessment is split into two parts. The first part comprises damages for the period between death and trial. The multiplicand is multiplied by the number of years which have elapsed between those two dates. Interest at one-half the short-term investment rate is also awarded on that multiplicand. The second part is damages for the period from the trial onwards. For that period, the number of years which have based on the number of years that the expectancy would probably have lasted; central to that calculation is the probable length of the deceased's working life at the date of death." As to the multiplier, Halsbury states: "However, the multiplier ....