Fees, Disbursements and Recovered Costs: How the Money Works When Your Claim Succeeds
When a personal injury claim succeeds, the client’s statement of account will show more than the attorney’s fee. It will also show disbursements: amounts the firm paid out along the way to prove the claim. Clients are sometimes surprised by these deductions, and it is a fair question to ask what they are, why they […]
Can the RAF Force Claimants into Mediation? Full Bench Hears Landmark Challenge
This week the Pretoria High Court sat as a full bench to hear one of the most consequential RAF cases in years: a challenge by the Personal Injury Plaintiff Lawyers Association (Pipla), which represents some 600 attorneys and advocates acting for road accident victims, to the Road Accident Fund’s directive making mediation a compulsory precondition […]
How to Claim from the Road Accident Fund: A Step-by-Step Guide
If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident in South Africa – as a driver, passenger, pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist – you may be entitled to compensation from the Road Accident Fund (RAF). This guide explains, in plain language, how a claim works from start to finish. Who can claim? Anyone injured in a […]
SCA Strikes Down the Amended RAF 1 Claim Form: Claims Revert to the 2008 Requirements
Case note: Road Accident Fund and Others v Legal Practitioners’ Indemnity Insurance Fund, NPC and Others (1106/2024; 1479/2024) [2026] ZASCA 63; [2026] 2 All SA 489 (SCA) (30 April 2026) On 30 April 2026 the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed, with costs, an appeal prosecuted by the Road Accident Fund against a decision of the […]
