By Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
A GERMAN woman who became wheelchair bound after an accident on Jamaica's north coast 12 years ago in which her husband was killed, has been awarded $20 million by a Supreme Court judge.
The award was handed down by Mr Justice Theobalds at the end of the case brought against Triple "C" Electrical Construction Company.
Waltraud East, 69, and her husband Altamont, 56, were travelling toward Ocho Rios on November 19, 1987, when on reaching Moneague, St. Ann, a truck belonging to the defendant's company was in the act of overtaking an oil tanker when it slammed into their car.
Mr. East was killed instantly while his widow was taken to the St. Ann's Bay Hospital where she was admitted for seven days. She was then taken to Germany for further medical treatment. It was discovered she had a hairline fracture of the base of the skull and injuries to the cervical spine and lumbar spine. She also suffered a broken right thumb and an injury to the left leg.
Now confined to a wheelchair, the plaintiff said before the accident she used to enter car rallies in Germany and do aerobic exercises.
She said she was unable to sit or stand for long hours. Dr. Warren Wilson of the St. Ann's Bay Hospital and the German insurers have confirmed East will never be able to work again.
Attorneys-at-law Rudolph Francis and Althea McBean, instructed by Frater Ennis and Gordon, who represented East, urged the court to make a substantial award.
Triple "C" and Colin Crooks, the driver of the truck, were the defendants. They did not appear at the hearing and were unrepresented. The truck was insured by United General Insurance Company.
Mr. Justice Neville Theobalds awarded the plaintiff $8 million as special damages with interest at six per cent from the date of the accident to July, 2000, making a total of $14 million. She was awarded general damages of $750,000 with interest at six per cent from the time the writ was filed in 1989 to July this year, totalling $1.1 million.
She got a special award of $5.1 million for loss of earnings.
