He underwent several surgeries during his hospital stay.
The Dubai Court of Appeals has ordered an insurance company to pay a traffic accident victim Dh2 million in compensation.
33-year-old Latheef Ummer, who hails from Chelakkara, Thrissur, Kerala, met with an accident on January 14, 2019 in Jebel Ali while he was travelling with a colleague in a big concrete mixer (he was not the mixer operator) while on the job.
After the accident, he was taken to a hospital where he received treatment until March 20, 2019. Due to the major spinal cord injuries he sustained, he underwent many surgeries during his hospital stay.
He was then taken to a hospital in India, where he was treated for cervical injuries from March 22 to May 30, 2019.
Earlier, the Court of First Instance (civil) ordered the insurance company to pay the victim Dh1 million in damages. The victim’s team of lawyers filed an appeal. The Court of Appeals revoked the lower court’s judgement and ordered the insurance company to pay the worker Dh2 million.
“I am not in a position to move or walk without help from others. I have two children aged 3 and 6 and I was the only breadwinner for the family. The accident left me depending on my wife for all my routine activities,” Latheef told the press from Kerala.
Advocate Femin Panikassery of Abdullah Al Naqbi Advocates and Legal Consultants, who represented the complainant in the civil claims, said: “We appealed an earlier judgement. We argued that the accident left the worker with a huge disability. We also presented to the court a detailed injury assessment report from a doctor. The latter had flown to India to examine the petitioner as per instructions from the court.”
The ruling text says that earlier a medical expert was sent to Kerala to examine the condition of Latheef and his report on the latter’s disability was also a key factor to get this compensation.
“Right now I am trying to move on with my life. The money that I will receive will go towards my treatment. I have not fully recovered from my injuries and I will need lifelong treatment and my wife is fully supporting me through. I thank God every day for giving me a new life and for giving me a chance to come out of danger from that unexpected accident,” Latheef added.
