How do I claim after a road accident in Trinidad and Tobago?

Who can be sued

The injured person must prove that the driver failed to take reasonable care and that this caused the injury.

An owner who was not driving may be liable if the driver was their employee acting in the course of employment, or was driving as the owner’s agent on the owner’s business or for the owner’s purposes. Ownership can support an inference that the driver was the owner’s agent, but the owner can answer it with evidence. In Rambarran v Gurrucharran, an appeal from Guyana, the Privy Council held an owner not liable for his son’s driving under a general permission, because the evidence displaced that inference. The owner of a vehicle licensed to ply for hire and insured under the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Act (Chapter 48:51) is deemed to be the employer of the person driving it at the time of an accident, unless the vehicle had been stolen (s 4A).

Compulsory third-party insurance

It is an offence to use, or to cause or permit another person to use, a motor vehicle on a public road unless a policy of insurance or a security against third-party risks is in force (s 3(1)). The maximum penalty is a fine of TT$15,000 and imprisonment for 4 years, and a person convicted is disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving permit for 3 years unless the court for special reasons orders otherwise (s 3(2), as amended by the Finance Act 2025). Vehicles used exclusively in the service of the Government, a municipal corporation or the Tobago House of Assembly are exempt from this requirement (s 3(4)), and the Act does not apply at all to public service vehicles owned by the Public Transport Service Corporation (s 3(5)); a claim arising from their use may need to be made against the State or the body concerned.

The policy must cover liability for the death of, or bodily injury to, any person caused by or arising out of the use of the vehicle on a public road (s 4(1)). It need not cover more than $1,000,000 for any one claim by any one person, or more than $2,000,000 for all claims from one accident for each vehicle (s 4(2)(c), (d)). It need not cover injury to the insured’s own employee arising in the course of employment (s 4(2)(a)). Where the cover is not enough to pay everyone injured in one accident, the Privy Council has held that the insurer may pay claims as they are established against its insured (Ram v Motor and General Insurance Co Ltd). So a person whose claim is established after the cover has been used up may recover nothing from the insurer and must look to the person liable.

Certain policy terms do not affect the injured person, including conditions about what the insured does after the accident (s 8), and restrictions based on the driver’s age or condition, the condition of the vehicle or the number of passengers (s 12). The insurer may then be able to recover what it pays from its own insured (ss 8(2), 12(2)). A term restricting cover for passengers by reference to whether they were carried free of charge or belong to a particular class is of no effect (s 12A).

What if the driver had no insurance?

A driver who is not the policyholder may still be covered: the insurer must indemnify people driving the vehicle with the insured’s consent, as specified in the policy (s 4(7)). An insurer that is entitled to avoid or cancel a policy, or has done so, must still pay a judgment covered by section 10 (s 10(1)).

The Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Act creates no fund or scheme to compensate people injured by uninsured or untraced drivers. The claim must then be made against the persons legally liable, such as the driver and, in some cases, the vehicle’s owner.

Claiming against the insurer

Once judgment is obtained against a person insured by the policy, for a liability that the Act requires the policy to cover and that is covered by the terms of the policy, the insurer must pay the sum due under the judgment, with costs and interest, even if it is entitled to avoid or cancel the policy or has done so, subject to the exceptions in section 10 (s 10(1)). If the court considers interest payable on an amount awarded in proceedings under the Act, it is at the mean of lending and borrowing rates then prevailing, or a higher rate the court fixes (s 10A(8)).

Do I have to give notice to the insurer?

No sum is payable by the insurer under section 10 unless the insurer had notice of the proceedings before or within 7 days after they began, or within such other period as the court in its absolute discretion considers equitable (s 10(2)(a)).

The person claimed against must, on demand, state whether they were insured and give the particulars on their certificate of insurance (s 13). Instead of waiting for judgment, the injured person may join the insurer as a co-defendant, after giving it 28 days’ notice (s 10A(1), (5)).

How long do I have to claim against the insurer?

A separate claim against the insurer under section 10 must be brought within 4 years from when that claim accrued, and the court has no power to extend that period (Limitation of Certain Actions Act (Chapter 7:09), s 3(1)(c); Maharaj v Motor One Insurance Co Ltd [2018] UKPC 8 [17]). Time does not run from the accident: the right to claim against the insurer arises only once judgment has been obtained against the insured person (Ram v Motor and General Insurance Co Ltd [2015] UKPC 22 [17]). The Privy Council has not decided whether it then runs from the judgment on liability or from the assessment of damages (Maharaj [6]). The period can be postponed in limited cases such as deliberate concealment (s 14).

Shared fault and time limits

If the injured person’s own lack of care contributed to their injuries, the damages are reduced to the extent the court thinks just and equitable (Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Chapter 4:01), s 28(1)). A claim for personal injuries must generally be filed within 4 years.