In a significant ruling, the Karnataka High Court has directed National Insurance Company Limited to compensate the family of Malakari, a 50-year-old laborer who tragically lost his life in a 2014 accident involving a tractor and its trailer near Nandi School, situated between Jambagi and Galagali.
The accident occurred when the trailer, laden with sugarcane, detached from a speeding, uninsured tractor and struck Malakari, who was sitting by the roadside. Initially, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal held the vehicle’s owner responsible, awarding the family ₹8.65 lakh, as the tractor lacked insurance coverage.
Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s decision, the family appealed, asserting that the trailer was insured and that liability should be imposed on the insurer. A division bench, comprising Justices HP Sandesh and TM Nadaf, concurred with the family’s contention. The court emphasized that the trailer, which struck the victim, was covered under insurance and relied on the tractor for movement. Consequently, the court revised the compensation to ₹11,93,328 with 6% annual interest from the date of the petition, recognizing the insurance company’s liability to the third-party victim’s family.
This judgment aligns with a previous Karnataka High Court decision, which ruled that a tractor and trailer, when in motion together, are considered a single motor vehicle for insurance purposes. In that case, a trailer’s hook caught a hanging electric wire, causing a pole to fall and fatally injure a laborer named Malatesh Didagur. The court upheld the tribunal’s decision, emphasizing that the trailer could not function independently of the tractor, thus making them a single vehicle unit. The driver’s negligence, leading to the accident, implicated the insured tractor and held the insurer liable.
These rulings underscore the legal principle that insurers may be held liable for accidents involving trailers, even if the trailers are not separately insured, provided they are considered an integral part of the tractor during operation.