As secondary victims they, like the bystanders or spectators, were not entitled to recover damages for their psychiatric illness. However, considering the surrounding circumstances of the present case (King v Phillips), McNair J. . Cited McFarlane v E E Caledonia Ltd CA 10-Sep-1993 The court will not extend a duty of care to mere bystanders of horrific events. . However, as far as their claim for psychiatric illness was concerned, the court was neither convinced with the surrounding facts and circumstances that there was sufficient close tie of love and affection with the claimants and the primary victim nor was convinced that the psychiatric illness that they had sustained was reasonably foreseeable by the defendant in accordance with the recovery criteria for psychiatric illness established in the leading case of Alcock. In this case, the British High Court ruled that a plaintiff, a bar maid, could recover damages for nervous shock even though no actual impact was involved in the accident. The floodgates argument may be a possible reason for this. Take a look at some weird laws from around the world! There is indeed a sense of remoteness in this case. So, it was held by the court that the claimant was entitled to recover damages even though she suffered psychiatric illness through the fear of her childrens safety, not through the fear of her own physical injury or safety. In other words psychiatric shock was to be treated as direct personal injury. Primary victims are victims who are imperilled or reasonably believe themselves to be imperilled by the defendants negligence.Lord Steyn said: the law on the recovery of compensation for pure psychiatric harm is a patchwork quilt of distinctions which are difficult to justify. IMPORTANT:This site reports and summarizes cases. Another claimant of this case was Rough, who was forty four years old. If you are the original writer of this dissertation and no longer wish to have your work published on the UKDiss.com website then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! The second issue was- whether the defendant owes a duty of care to the claimant not to inflict any kind of physical injury or harm to himself. Once the requirement of proximity of relationship is satisfied, the secondary victims must also establish the facts that he had physical proximity to the accident or its immediate aftermath. The children had severe head and face injuries, concussion and fractures. Any information contained in this case summary does not constitute legal advice and should be treated as educational content only. Like the case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, this case arose from the disaster that occurred at Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield in the FA cup semi-final match between Liverpool and . . The House considered claims by police officers who had suffered psychiatric injury after tending the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy. According to Lord Oliver[31], it would be unfair to create a list of the category or class of people whose claim should be allowed and whose claim should be failed. According to him, the existing law of negligence in relation to psychiatric illness generally recognizes a claim brought by the people who are in a close relationship with the primary victims, but reluctant to allow any claims by the bystanders. The above judgment in White v The Chief Constable allowed the defendants' appeal against the 1997 Court of Appeal decision in Frost & Ors. Taylor v Somerset HA [1993] PIQR P 262 2. /Filter /LZWDecode (back to preceding text) I am compelled to say that I am unable to accept this suggestion because in my opinion (1) the proposal is contrary to well-established authority; (2) the proposed control mechanism would erect an artificial barrier against recovery . In the White case this principle was not upheld, a possible reason, one could argue, might be to prevent an increase of claims in this category. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of LawTeacher.net. In order for the claimant to successfully recover compensation the court needs to consider an amalgam of rules and exceptions as . For example, in Hinz v Berry[3], the court recognized morbid depression as a recognizable psychiatric illness. Subsequently, she learnt from a bystander that one of her children have sustained injury by that running motor lorry. In those cases the court still allowed the claimants to establish a claim and recover damages for psychiatric injury notwithstanding the fact that the secondary victims were not actually present at the scene of the accident. The preliminary issue before the court was whether the existing law allows the claimants to bring an action for recovery of damages against the defendants or not. According to him it was a matter of common sense that-the defendant while backing his taxicab have not reasonably foreseen any personal injury to the claimant who witnessed an accident and suffered nervous shock from a house some seventy to eighty yards away up a side street. Take a look at some weird laws from around the world! He further took the view that, the cases where there is insufficient proximity of relationship must be very carefully considered before allowing the claimants for psychiatric injury claims[20]. The Court of Appeal in Frost v Chief Constable of Yorkshire Police [1997] 3 WLR 1194 (by a majority) had held that the police officers who were allowed to recover for their psychiatric illness as a result of carrying out their professional duties as rescuers and/or employees at the disastrous Hillsborough football stadium stampede were classifiable as primary victims. Published: 21st Jan 2022. Since they were not endangered in the discharge of their service or in rescuing, as employees and/or rescuers, the police officers were only secondary victims. He was told however that the risk was very remote. Therefore the claimants appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The defendant argued that, there was no negligence on his part as far as the claimants psychiatric illness was concerned. They claimed that because they were rescuers they should be treated as primary victims. White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police was a 1998 case in English tort law in which police officers who were present in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster sued for post traumatic stress disorder. Accordingly, in the case of Robertson and Rough v Forth Road Bridge Joint Board[35], the claimants brought an action against the defendants for a horrible disaster that took place on the Forth Road Bridge. In the case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire,[6] Lord Ackner defined the term nervous shock or psychiatric illness as Sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event, which violently agitates the mind. On the other hand, Lord Keith defined psychiatric illness as Sudden assault on the nervous system. [29] As per Lord Oliver [1992] 1 AC 310 at page 417. His brother in law and his nephew also had been present in the football ground who was watching the live match from the terrace. The defendant admitted that he had been negligent, but said he was not liable for the psychiatric damage as it was unforeseeable and therefore not recoverable as a head of damage .The Page v Smith case is significant in that it enhanced the distinction between primary and secondary victims. The facts of this case are, on the 19th October 1973, a friend came to the claimants house to tell her of a serious accident involving her husband and three children, two hours after it had occurred. He then decided to leave Gotham for a while after having a parent's association, and later the police, on his case (which resulted in Gordon becoming alcoholic and cheating on his wife) and had to shift his focus on the countryside, spending most of his time in scouts camps, wearing a scout chief uniform over his Batsuit, to cover his identity as the Batman. Genearlly, the defendants are not liable to the claimants for causing psychiatric injury by means of self inflicted physical injuries. No issues of. . Hicks v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1992] 2 All ER 65. not medically recognised condition: fear, it is a normal emotion; . White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire. Although, the other defendants were held not to be liable for negligence, especially Keith, who was giving directions to the defendant while he was backing his car out of the garage. However, the decision in the case of Dooley V Cammen Laird preserved the distinction between primary and secondary victim. It seems apparent from the Alcock case judgments that the court will only emphasize on close tie of love and affection before allowing any secondary victims to establish a claim and recover damages for psychiatric illness. . Kearns J [2003] stated the category of relationships entitled to successfully claim damages for nervous shock should be tightly restricted.. Held: Being directly involved, the pursuer was a primary victim, and accordingly not subject to the limits on claiming for . Having heard this, the claimant ran approximately hundred yards from her place in order to see her son who was eventually died. The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire admitted that a duty of care was owed by his force towards those who died or suffered physical injury as a result of negligent crowd control by . CJ Keane criticized the logic of distinguishing between psychiatric illnesses resulting from a traumatic event as opposed to suffering grief in its aftermath. The lead case on secondary victim claims is Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] which sets out a 4-stage test known as the control mechanisms. The issue before the court was whether any person is entitled to establish a claim for psychiatric illness which has been sustained through the fear or apprehension of physical injury to others. The claimants eight year old son was very close to the near side door of the car and was playing there. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. Whether a person is to be regarded as a rescuer will be a question of fact to be decided on the . Looking for a flexible role? It is of paramount importance that the law enforcement Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and Others (1996) The Times, 6 November, CA. 2819 Words. It was agreed between the parties that the only issue was whether they could satisfy the criterion of . [1952] 2 All ER 459 at page 460. Traditionally, the category of close relationship indicates the familial relationship, such as the relationship between the spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters etc. This was a test case . Interestingly, in this instance, the courts decided that it was not necessary for the plaintiff to actually witness the incident. The court needs to consider an amalgam of rules and exceptions as around the world 4422, UAE laws around! Around the world Sudden assault on the in Hinz v Berry [ ]! 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