The High Court in Makueni has increased compensation for a
woman who suffered severe internal injuries in a road accident.
The court ruled that the initial award issued by the Chief
Magistrate’s Court was “inordinately low” in light of the seriousness of the
harm sustained.
Justice Waweru Kiarie enhanced the award effectively
raising the payout by Sh500,000 in favour of Marietta Mumbi Benard, who was
injured while travelling as a fare-paying passenger in a motor vehicle
belonging to Hemwil Investments Ltd.
Benard had sued Hemwil Investments, together with two others,
seeking general and special damages following the road traffic accident.
The trial court found in her favour but awarded her
Sh400,000 in general damages, a figure she argued did not reflect the severity
of her injuries.
Dissatisfied, she appealed, challenging the award on grounds
that the magistrate had disregarded her submissions and failed to apply
comparable decisions in similar injury cases.
Her medical report, prepared by Doctor Judith Kimuyu on July
27, 2021, showed that she sustained conditions the doctor described as life-threatening.
“The learned trial magistrate erred in law and in fact in
awarding the appellant Sh400,000 for blunt abdominal injury grade II liver
injury with lacerations and hemoperitoneum with ileus,” the judgment stated.
“The award was
inordinately low and in total disregard of the severity of the injuries
sustained.”
The report noted that while she had recovered significantly,
she remained at risk of developing post-surgical intestinal obstruction in the
future due to possible adhesions.
The respondents opposed the appeal, arguing that the trial
court's award was within reasonable limits and should not be disturbed.
In his judgment delivered on November 4, 2025, Justice
Kiarie noted that as the first appellate court, he was required to re-evaluate
the evidence afresh.
The judge emphasised that appellate courts only interfere
with an award of damages where the trial court acted on the wrong principles or
where the award is so low or so high as to represent an entirely erroneous
estimate.
“It would appear that the learned trial magistrate did not
appreciate the seriousness of the injuries. They were aptly described as
life-threatening. I agree that the award was inordinately low,” Justice Kiarie
held.
He referred to the case of Kenya Power & Lighting Co.
Ltd v Kenneth Lugalia Imbugua (2016), where the High Court upheld an award of
Sh700,000 for intra-abdominal injuries involving the liver and gallbladder.
In that case, although the patient had recovered and the
liver was expected to regenerate, the seriousness of the initial trauma
warranted substantial damages.
Justice Kiarie observed that no two personal injury cases
are identical, but courts must strive to maintain fairness and reasonable
uniformity in awards.
He further noted that
inflation must be taken into account when comparing past awards with current
circumstances.
“Doing the best I can, and factoring in the inflation, the
trial magistrate’s award is substituted with an award of Sh900,000,” he ruled.
The judge therefore allowed the appeal and awarded costs to
the appellant.
