This blog is co-authored by Boitumelo Phillips, candidate attorney.
In August 2025, the High Court dismissed an application by the defendant for condonation of the late filing of a rescission application relating to a settlement agreement in a road accident claim but nevertheless went on to consider whether a settlement agreement survives the death of the claimant. The matter concerned a settlement reached between the claimant and the Road Accident Fund on 11 October 2022, which included agreed amounts for past and future loss of earnings. The claimant passed away on 20 March 2023, before the court delivered its order on 8 November 2023.
The defendant sought to set aside the order, arguing that the claimant’s estate should not benefit from the agreed future loss of earnings due to the claimant’s death. The court found that the defendant had been aware of the claimant’s death as early as 5 April 2023 but only brought the rescission application nearly 11 months later, without providing a satisfactory explanation for the delay. Therefore, the late filing was refused.
The court confirmed that the settlement agreement constituted a new cause of action, independent of the original claim, and that it became final and binding once concluded. The agreement did not contain any provision for recalculating damages in the event of the claimant’s death. The court held that, in the absence of such a provision, the claim was compromised. This included the agreed amount for future loss of earnings which became an asset in the deceased’s estate.
The defendant’s argument that the estate was not entitled to future loss of earnings was rejected, as no legal basis was provided to set aside or vary the settlement. The court emphasised that allowing parties to revisit or alter settlement agreements after the fact would undermine the finality of such agreements and the public interest in the certainty of litigation outcomes.
The application was dismissed. The judgment reinforces the principle that once a settlement agreement is reached and made an order of court, it is final and binding on the parties and cannot be set aside simply because circumstances have changed.
Road Accident Fund v Bakker N.O (519/2018) [2025] ZANCHC 73 (15 August 2025)