THIRD PARTY CLAIMS

third party CLAIMS PROCEDURE

The claim is lodged on a prescribed statutory claim form (Form 1 is to be used in respect of claims arising prior to 01 August 2008 and RAF 1 from 01 August 2008 onwards) which provides basic information on the claimant, the vehicles and parties involved in the collision, the date and place of accident and the amounts claimed. It also contains a medical report by the treating doctor.
This claim form is accompanied by an affidavit setting out the following: 

• Full particulars of the accident,
• Statements of witnesses,
• Police reports,
• Hospital and medical records, 
• Vouchers and documents in support of amounts claimed.

The drivers of the vehicles involved in the collision must furnish details of the accident to the RAF on a statutory accident report form (Form 3 is to be used in respect of claims arising prior to 01 August 2008 and RAF 3 from 01 August 2008 onwards) together with information of witnesses which the RAF may request.

Once a claim is submitted, the RAF registers it on its claim system and commences with its investigations.
The RAF determines whether the claim is valid (i.e. was there a road accident, does it comply with statutory provisions, was it submitted in time, etc.) and what the merits of the case are (i.e. the degree of fault, blame or negligence to be ascribed to the drivers of the vehicles and the claimant respectively). The quantum is also determined (i.e. the amount of the damages or losses suffered).

If a claim is incomplete, the RAF calls for additional information and supporting documentation to enable it to better assess the matter.

If the claim arose after the 31 July 2008 and general damages are claimed, a Serious Injury Assessment Report (RAF 4) must be submitted to the RAF confirming that the injury sustained is serious for the purposes of the Act.

Information obtained from http://www.raf.co.za/claims/Pages/default.aspx (accessed on 26 March 2017).

EVICTION FROM PROPERTIES

This legal concept is regulated by the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE).

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides that: "No one may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances". 

Arbitrary Evictions are not legal.. PIE sets out the procedure to be followed in the case of such evictions. 

In Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers, the Constitutional Court stated that it expressly requires the court to infuse elements of grace and compassion into the formal structures of the law.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT (PART 1)

We will now examine some introductory aspects of a law which impacts on the lives of each and every person on a daily (if not more) basis – CONSUMING FROM THE MARKETPLACE (by means of PRODUCTS and/or SERVICES)

What is this Act all about?

• ·         It promotes a fair, accessible and sustainable marketplace for consumer products and services
• ·         It establishes national norms and standards to ensure consumer protection
• ·        It makes provision for improved standards of consumer information, to prohibit certain unfair marketing  and business practices
• ·         It promotes responsible consumer behaviour
• ·        It promotes a consistent legislative and enforcement framework, related to consumer transactions and  agreements
• ·       It establishes the National Consumer Commission and replaces old Acts (including the Consumer Affairs (Unfair Business Practices) Act of 1988; Trade Practices Act of 1976; Sales and Service Matters Act of 1964; Price Control Act of 1964; and Merchandise Marks Act of 1941 (specifically Sections 2-13, and 16-17) 

CONTRACT LAW: General requirements

The requirements (in layman’s terms) for a valid contract is that:

1.   There must be a mutual understanding between the contracting parties.  The must therefore have been a ‘meeting of minds’ when the contract was concluded.

2.   The parties must have intended that the result of the contract may be enforced.

3.   The parties must be allowed to contract.  An example is that a child or a mentally ill person is not allowed (competent) to contract.

4.   The agreement must have certain and definite terms. 

5.   The necessary formalities must be observed.

6.   The agreement must be lawful^.  You may, for instance not allow a teacher to inflict corporal punishment on your child as it in unconstitutional and ‘against the law’.

7.   The contractual obligations must be possible of performance.  You cannot rely on a contract where it would be impossible for either of the parties not to be able to do what is expected of a party.

8.   The content of the agreement must be certain.  It may therefore not be vague.

If these requirements are not met, the contract will be null and void.

LABOUR LAW

Fixed term contracts

Be careful to enter into fixed term contracts with employees.  The new Labour Law in SA, which took effect in early 2015, provides that fixed terms contracts can only be entered into where the employer has a justifiable reason why it is a fixed-term contract.  "Justifiable reason" means a good reason, in layman's terms.

Employers have been hiding behind fixed-term contracts for decades as they did not wanted to pay benefits in terms of the employment of employees, such as medical, leave etc.  At some stage the labour brokers were used to fulfill the obligations mentioned.

But labour brokers have now been restricted vastly in their role in the labour law and the obligations, as referred to above, have been returned to the employers.

The situation now is that employers may only enter into fixed-terms contracts where the end date is justifiable.

Further to this, the employer now runs the risk that employees do not only hold the expectation that their fixed-contract should be renewed on the same terms if their fixed-term contracts have been continuously renewed.  In terms of the new labour laws of South Africa they now have an expectation of permanent employment!

I have been in the Legal Profession for about 32 years.  

Legal Representation has become extremely expensive.  One of the problems are that clients do not know what there answer to their dispute (such as the Police arresting you for an alleged offence or someone owes you money, your laborer takes you to the CCMA, you want a contract drawn up or interpreted, you want a will drawn up etc, etc)

The idea of this blog is to empower you with legal knowledge, so that when you go to a lawyer, you are prepared on a subject, thus rendering your consultations SO much shorter and THUS SAVING YOU MONEY!

Here we go!