On 16th August 2021, the Privy Council dismissed the appeal lodged by Johann Harvey (“Johann”) and the insurance company, Swan General Ltd (“Swan General”) in the case of Harvey v Brette. For Ryan Brette (“Ryan”) and his family, this decision seals their 11-year-old legal battle where they will finally be awarded around Rs. 10 million, as per the initial judgement of the Supreme Court.
As a reminder, this matter started in 2010 when Ryan, then aged 7 years old, was hit by a van driven by Johann at Mont-Loisir. Following the collision, Ryan suffered from catastrophic injuries, which resulted in him being handicapped for life. His family then initiated legal actions at the Supreme Court on his behalf, seeking for damages of Rs.13,6 millions from Johann and Swan General.
Following the death of the initial judge, A R Hajee Abdoula J in 2016, the case was reheard before Judge Kwok Yin Siong Yen. The latter delivered his judgment on 15 March 2018 in favor of Ryan. In her judgment, it was explained that there was a presumption against Johann to be accountable for damages caused by the van which was within his control. She was of the opinion that only evidences adduced by Johann and Swan General should be evaluated in order to discharge the presumption. After evaluation of the evidences given by the latter, the judge was not satisfied that Ryan was partly or wholly responsible for the accident. Consequently, the judge awarded Rs. 10,100,000 to Ryan’s family.
Following the appeal of Johann and Swan General against this judgment, Judges Balancy SPJ and Chan Kan Cheong J as the Court of Appeal stated their views that the judge was wrong in deciding that Johann and Swan General were the only ones who could adduce evidence in relation to the presumption against them. After re-evaluating all the evidences available, the Court of Appeal held that even if all the evidences were considered, the judge would not have differed in the judgement. As a result, the appeal failed and the initial judgment in favor of Ryan was upheld.
However, Johann and Swan General decided to bring the matter to the Privy Council with regards to the interpretation taken by the Court of Appeal. Due to the pandemic, all the parties agreed that the matter shall be decided solely on their written submissions. However, to the detriment of Johann and Swan General, the Privy Council dismissed the appeal and upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal. Therefore, the initial judgement given by the judge of the Supreme Court remains without any setback. It is a happy ending for this overwhelming lengthy legal battle as Ryan and his family will now be awarded approximately Rs10 millions as damages for this life altering accident.
