Abu Dhabi court orders driver to pay company Dhs89,080 for negligence

The Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Cases Court ordered a driver to pay Dhs89,080 to a cargo shipping, loading, and unloading company for which he worked as a driver, after he jumped red lights while driving a company-owned trailer truck and caused a traffic accident due to recklessness and negligence.

In the details, a company filed a lawsuit against an employee who worked for it as a truck driver under an unspecified term employment contract, and while driving a company-owned trailer, he jumped red lights and was convicted in a previous criminal case with a fine of Dhs10,000.

The company stated that it incurred losses amounting to Dhs50,000 for the recklessness and negligence violation fine, Dhs1,800 in vehicle transport fees, Dhs2,180 in traffic violations, Dhs3,000 in fees to buy out the vehicle impoundment period, and financial losses to the company estimated at Dhs230,000 due to the vehicle being out of service for 230 days from the date of the accident and impoundment.

The court explained that the company provided supporting documents for the expenses it incurred totaling Dhs59,080, and the employee did not provide anything to refute those documents or deny his connection to the accident.

The court then considered the amount of Dhs30,000 to be enough compensation for the damage incurred by the company after being deprived of utilising its vehicle throughout the impoundment period.