{"id":1291583,"date":"2025-03-05T09:31:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T04:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1291583"},"modified":"2025-03-05T09:32:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T04:02:27","slug":"insurance-company-must-pay-compensation-even-if-driver-was-drunk-during-accident-madras-hc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/insurance-company-must-pay-compensation-even-if-driver-was-drunk-during-accident-madras-hc\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurance Company Must Pay Compensation Even If Driver Was Drunk During Accident &#8211; Madras HC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has clarified that insurance companies remain liable to pay compensation to the family of a deceased victim, even if the driver responsible for the accident was under the influence of alcohol. This decision brings relief to victims&#8217; families who otherwise might have been denied compensation due to technicalities in insurance policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/drunk-driving-car-accident-claims.jpg-1024x693.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1291604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/drunk-driving-car-accident-claims.jpg-1024x693.webp 1024w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/drunk-driving-car-accident-claims.jpg-300x203.webp 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/drunk-driving-car-accident-claims.jpg-768x519.webp 768w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/drunk-driving-car-accident-claims.jpg.webp 1230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The case was heard by Justice M. Dhandapani, who referred to a similar verdict from the Kerala High Court in <em>Muhammed Rashid @ Rashid vs. Girivasan E.K<\/em>. The Kerala court had previously ruled that despite a clause in the insurance policy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livelaw.in\/high-court\/madras-high-court\/madras-high-court-insurance-company-liable-pay-compensation-driver-intoxicated-285466\">prohibiting<\/a> driving under the influence, insurers are obligated to compensate victims, with the right to recover the amount from the insured later. Aligning with this precedent, the Madras High Court directed the insurance company to first deposit the compensation amount and then seek recovery from the vehicle owner if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case involved a tragic incident from December 30, 2017, where Rajasekaran, a 37-year-old man, was fatally struck by a van while walking on Thiruneermalai Main Road, Chennai. Rajasekaran\u2019s family had sought compensation of \u20b965 lakh but was awarded only \u20b927,65,300 by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), which also exempted the insurance company, citing the driver\u2019s intoxication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Disagreeing with the MACT\u2019s verdict, the family appealed, arguing that the tribunal\u2019s decision was flawed and the compensation inadequate. They also pointed out that the deceased was earning \u20b9700 per day, but the tribunal had fixed his income at a much lower figure of \u20b913,700 per month. The High Court found merit in these arguments, increased the monthly income estimate to \u20b915,000, and enhanced the total compensation to \u20b930,25,000, along with 7.5% annual interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Justice Dhandapani firmly held that victims&#8217; families should not suffer due to policy violations by drivers, emphasizing the insurance company&#8217;s responsibility to compensate claimants promptly. The court ordered the insurance company to deposit the enhanced compensation within six weeks and granted them the liberty to recover the amount from the responsible party following legal procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This verdict reinforces the protection available to accident victims under Indian law, ensuring financial support to affected families regardless of the driver\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has clarified that insurance companies remain liable to pay compensation to the family of a deceased victim, even if the driver responsible for the accident was under the influence of alcohol. This decision brings relief to victims&#8217; families who otherwise might have been denied compensation due to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1291604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[5633],"class_list":["post-1291583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-drunk-driving"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Insurance Company Must Pay Compensation Even If Driver Was Drunk During Accident - Madras HC - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/insurance-company-must-pay-compensation-even-if-driver-was-drunk-during-accident-madras-hc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Insurance Company Must Pay Compensation Even If Driver Was Drunk During Accident - Madras HC - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has clarified that insurance companies remain liable to pay compensation to the family of a deceased victim, even if the driver responsible for the accident was under the influence of alcohol. This decision brings relief to victims&#8217; families who otherwise might have been denied compensation due to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/insurance-company-must-pay-compensation-even-if-driver-was-drunk-during-accident-madras-hc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-05T04:01:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-05T04:02:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/drunk-driving-car-accident-claims.jpg.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"832\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/insurance-company-must-pay-compensation-even-if-driver-was-drunk-during-accident-madras-hc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/insurance-company-must-pay-compensation-even-if-driver-was-drunk-during-accident-madras-hc\/\",\"name\":\"Insurance Company Must Pay Compensation Even If Driver Was Drunk During Accident - Madras HC - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; 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