Pietermaritzburg - The Umngeni (Howick) municipality must pay R450 000 to a woman seriously injured when a pothole caused her car tyre to blow and the vehicle plunged down an embankment.
KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Chiman Patel endorsed this consent order in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.
Lorraine Margaret Burns's attorney blamed the accident on the municipality's employees who did not repair potholes on the Umngeni-Curry's Post road.
After the accident, in July 2008, Burns was admitted to ICU and spent three weeks in hospital with dislocated shoulders and head and other injuries.
The municipality contended Burns was negligent in failing to keep proper watch, failed to avoid the pothole, and did not exercise reasonable care and skill. This negligence caused, or contributed to the accident, the municipality submitted.
Sapa