Accident claim ‘touts’

THE use of “touts” in hospitals to “originate” Road Accident Fund claims seems to be paying off for attorneys, who raked in about R2 billion in legal fees last year.

The fund also paid out a separate R478 million to advocates during the same period.

In 2001, legal fees paid to attorneys by the fund amounted to just R345m.

The fund has now taken steps to minimise these costs by increasing the number of direct claims by the victims of car crashes, says Transport Minister Dipuo Peters.

Peters said the Road Accident Fund would also go out to tender to “procure the services of service providers” to help the fund “work down the claim backlog”.

Freedom Front Plus MP Anton Alberts asked Peters whether she had found that the actions of the fund, of settling claims directly with the public without the backing of independent advisers, might constitute a conflict of interest.

“How does the RAF (the fund) justify its practice of approaching patients in hospital and advising them on the prospects of a claim, and what training and experience do RAF representatives have?” asked Alberts.

Peters said she believed this did not constitute a conflict of interest. “This practice by the RAF of advising patients of their rights must be viewed against the fact that there are numerous touts working in the hospitals who ‘originate claims’ and then sell these claims to attorneys, in whose interest it is not to inform patients of the right to claim directly from the RAF.”

She said in many instances a patient, with the assistance of the fund, was able to lodge a claim and get payment from the fund without the involvement of a legal representative.

She said most of the fund’s staff members had a legal medical background.