THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
| Drifters Adventure Tours CC v B L Hircock | |
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| Supreme Court of Appeal - 602/2005 | Hearing date: 04 September 2006 |
| Judgment date: 29 September 2006 | |
Interpretation of an exemption clause read with conditions where the driver of a tour bus was negligent. |
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Media Summary of Judgement |
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Today the Supreme Court of Appeal, presided over by Judge Ralph Zulman, who delivered the judgment of the court dismissed an appeal with costs, by a tour operator, Drifters, against a decision given in the Cape High Court. Mrs Bonnie Hircock an American tourist sued Drifters for R120 000.00 being damages for injuries that she suffered while on a bus tour in Namibia. Drifters admitted that the bus was negligently driven at the time by one of its employees. Drifters defended the claim on the grounds that Mrs Hircock had signed an indemnity form, prior to the tour absolving it from any liability whatsoever and in which she acknowledged that she undertook the tour entirely at her own risk. The Supreme Court of Appeal agreed with the Cape High Court that the indemnity had to be read together with certain conditions appearing on the reverse side of the form. On a proper interpretation of the conditions the wide scope of the indemnity was limited and did not provide Drifters with a defence to the claim. |
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