Irish courts do not use space / time or relationship as limiting factors as applied in some of the previous English cases , but rather these factors are taken into account, although the position in relation to the latter may be changing as evident in Cuddy v May. In this case, Lord Oliver[29] took the view that-Brian Harrison, one of the appellants, lost his two brothers but still failed in his action in spite of his presence in the stadium, because he produced no evidence of close tie of love with his two brothers. Ninety six Liverpool fans were killed and many more seriously injured in a massive crush during the FA Cup Semi Final at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield . One of the children had died due to sustaining severe physical injuries almost immediately. The test of reasonable foreseeability was applied and issues of space, time and relationship were considerations in determining the degree of foreseeability of psychiatric illness. In Kelly v Hennessy [1995] 3IR.253 CJ Hamilton laid down criteria, which have become the standard test for nervous shock. Generally, the burden of proving such a close tie of love and affection lies with the person who wishes to establish a claim for psychiatric illness. The winner - given the power to fire the next chief constable - will inevitably prevail on an anti-corruption ticket. Having studied this case, I feel it is significant for a number of reasons. She suffered nervous shock that affected her pregnancy and caused her injury. Having heard this, the claimant ran approximately hundred yards from her place in order to see her son who was eventually died. 1 . But, when a bystander of a horrible event suffers from psychiatric injury, it becomes very difficult for him or her to establish a claim and recover damages for psychiatric injury, since such a person is not closely connected to the injured person. This time the ground for appeal was whether the defendants could have reasonably foreseen the psychiatric illness suffered by the claimants or secondary victims. The plaintiff must show that the defendant owed duty of care not to cause the reasonably foreseeable nervous shock. Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and Others (1996) The Times, 6 November, CA . The carriageway was too high that any person fell from that distance would unlikely to survive. Held: Being directly involved, the pursuer was a primary victim, and accordingly not subject to the limits on claiming for . However, liability could not be avoided if the accident took place very close to him and was so horrific. Decent Essays. In this case, he categorized the victims in a psychiatric injury cases in to two main . A large tower was constructed in the Docklands area of East London which now goes by the name of One Canada Square Capacity and Medical Consent. Cited Brice v Brown 1984 The plaintiff, a lady with a hysterical personality disorder since childhood, had a minor taxi accident and then developed a major psychiatric illness bizarre behaviour, suicide attempts, pleading with people to cut her head off in response to a . However, Mr. Bankes, Atkin and Sargant L.JJ. [69] As per Stephenson LJ [1981] 1 All ER 809 at page 823. The case was known as Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and Others [1997] 1 All ER 540 in the lower courts. A possible suggestion for not allowing compensation in this instance may be directly related to a fear of a floodgate of claims if some claimants were successful. 34 [1996] 1 AC 155. He took the view that, since the claimant was watching the scene of the accident from quite a few distances away, so it was not reasonably foreseeable by the defendant that if he backed his taxicab negligently the claimant would suffer a nervous shock. Mentioned Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994 The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. The claimant must show that his / her injury was reasonably foreseeable, although Lord Wilberforce did state that foreseeability does not of itself automatically lead to a duty of care. Initially Lord Bridges viewpoint held but Lord Wilberforce argument gathered credence,as evident in the following case. He was a road worker instructed to attend by the defendant immediately after a terrible accident. Lord Wilberforce argued that it was necessary to develop further criteria including strict proximity in time, a close relationship, direct means of communication (personal witness). Alcock -v- The Chief Constable of South Yorks [1992] 1 AC 310. School King's College London; Course Title LAW 10999; Uploaded By ColonelHeatKudu28. Held: (Smith LJ dissenting) The . Prior to the Page v Smith case it was assumed that reasonable foreseeability of psychiatric illness was required in all cases of negligently inflicted psychiatric illness and that all such plaintiffs must be persons of normal disposition.. Fletcher v Commissioners for Public Works [2003] 2 I.L.R.M.94. . . miscarriage. However, considering the surrounding circumstances of the present case (King v Phillips), McNair J. %PDF-1.2
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. Others failed the close ties of love and affection . About after two hours she was informed by a neighbour of the road accident in which her family members were involved. The apparent injustice of this position has been acknowledged . [58] that the defendant was in breach of his duty of reasonable care and the claimants were entitled to recover damages. .Cited Mullaney v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police CA 15-May-2001 The claimant police officer was severely injured making an arrest. For a secondary victim to be successful in their claim, they must prove the following: It must be reasonably foreseeable that a person of "normal fortitude" might suffer . They said that the defendants negligent treatment allowed the attack to take place. The defendant argued that, there was no negligence on his part as far as the claimants psychiatric illness was concerned. The claimant appealed against the decision of the trial judge to the Court of Appeal. 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. The defendant relied on the decision of the case in Bourhill v Young[48] with a view to support his arguement and stated that the psychiatric injury to the mother was not reasonably foreseeable as she was not within the range of reasonable anticipation. After that she found her husband injured and covered with mud and oil. Acting for the Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police on the Hillsborough litigation in relation to the Inquests, Alcock (family PTSD claims) and Frost/White (police PTSD claims); Court of Appeal win in Webster v Ellison Circlips on automatic strike out. [1992] 1 AC 310 Lord . Cited Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd (The Wagon Mound No 1) PC 18-Jan-1961 Foreseeability Standard to Establish NegligenceComplaint was made that oil had been discharged into Sydney Harbour causing damage. Abstract. According to Stephenson LJ[69], although the claimants psychiatric illness was reasonably forseeable by the defendants and they owed a duty of care to the claimant, but it was policy considerations that hampered the claimant from establishing a claim and recover damages for psychiatric illness. However, in this case, their Lordship took the similar opinion that, the issue of proximity of relationship should be decided on a case by case basis. *You can also browse our support articles here >. Lord Oliver[30] thought that, Mr. Brians action failed not only because he could not provide with evidence of close tie of love and affection but also because the perception of the shocking event was gradual as opposed to the sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event. Free resources to assist you with your legal studies! However in relation to claims brought by siblings this close relationship had to be proven by evidence. He further considered that, such a proximity relationship or close tie of love and affection might exist between the family members or friends. 164 0 obj
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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. This was not the situation prior to this case. u $VnI=vJ--EmC\A$2Tat9iamg~>k,H7^V
TJ=7jdv'6M:c 7c{}N8o}~p7k;? After the dismissal from the Court of Appeal, ten of the claimants made an appeal to the House of Lords against the decision given by the Court of Appeal. QB 335; [1995] 2 WLR 173; [1995] 1 All ER 833 , CA Entick v Carrington (1765) 2 Wils KB 275 Frost v Chief . 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. He went to the psychiatrist and took medical treatment. In this instance, mental illness was accompanied by a physical trauma i.e. [51] took the view that, if the two cases of Hambrook v Stokes Bros[52] and In re Polemis and Furness, withy & Co. Ltd[53]on which the claimant relied on are considered then the there is every possibility that the decision goes in favour of the claimant. Regretted Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995 The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. I conclude by wholeheartedly agreeing with Lord Steyns statement that The Law on the recovery of compensation for pure psychiatric harm is a patchwork quilt of distinctions which are difficult to justify and I feel, the cases discussed in this essay clearly support my viewpoint. In this case, the defendants servant negligently left a motor lorry on a street with the engine running. Lord Jauncey[32] took the view that such a categorization would be illogical as well as arbitrary. The Court of Appeal (by a majority) found in favour of all but one of the officers. Only full case reports are accepted in court. At trial she was awarded damages for nervous shock. Both the judgements given by Stephenson and Griffith LJ was appreciated and therefore agreed by Cumming-Bruce LJ. Two of the plaintiffs were spectators in the ground, but not in the pens where the disaster occurred, the remainder of the plaintiffs learned of the disaster through . [39] As per Cazalet LJ. Mental Health can have a positive or negative impact on our behaviour, decision-making, and actions, as well as our general health and well-being. HL dismissed their claims since they were suffering extreme grief, not a psychiatric illness. An action for negligence was brought into the court against the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police. In England, the Dulieu v White and Sons [1901]2 KB 66 9 case was a landmark case in terms of the recovery of claims for psychiatric illnesses. *You can also browse our support articles here >. The claimant argued that the defendant was under a duty of care to drive his taxicab carefully not to inflict any kind of physical and emotional damage to the people. Disclaimer: This work was produced by one of our expert legal writers, as a learning aid to help law students with their studies. Hall v gwent healthcare nhs trust 2004 qb c hall was. Traditionally, the category of close relationship indicates the familial relationship, such as the relationship between the spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters etc. So according to Keiths directions the defenadant was backing his car out and paying attention to him. 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. An action was brought by her husband for the loss of benefit of her services. [60]did not agree with the arguments put by the defendant but he agreed with the decision given by Salmon J. The Second Defendant relies on the view of the majority of the House of Lords in White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire [1999] 2 AC 455 (also known as Frost v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire) that, for a rescuer to be regarded as a primary victim, it must be shown that they were exposed to the risk of physical injury or reasonably . But, it has been seen from some of the above case decisions that, even after satisfying the requirement of proximity of relationship, the court still did not allow the secondary victims claim for psychiatric injury. Open Document. She suffered serious nervous shock as a result and sued the defendant who was responsible for the accident. Music background The most recent of which was Frost v The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire which resulted from the Hillsborough tragedy. The UK High Court has found that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) infringed the privacy of renowned musician Sir Cliff Richard (Sir Cliff) by broadcasting a raid by the South Yorkshire Police (the SYP) following an allegation of historical sexual . The defendant police service had not . The boy screamed loud enough and tried to take his foot out the cars wheel by kicking the car with the other foot. Having heard the scream the father (claimant) rushed into the spot and found his son with his foot trapped by the cars wheel. The Court of Appeal held that no claim could be brought by a secondary victim for psychiatric injury caused by a separate horrific event removed in time from the original negligence, accident or first horrific event. In support of my opinion I will discuss and analyse the outcomes of a number of relevant law cases, namely, Dulieu v White and Son[1901]2 KB 669 , Hambrook v Stoke Bros [1925] 1 KB 141, McLoughlin v O Brian (1983) AC 410 310 AT 407, Alcock -v- The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire [1992] 1 AC 310, Page -v- Smith [1995] 2 All ER 736 AT 759, 761 per Lord Lloyd, White v The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police[1992]1 AC.310. Initially Alcock was not worried about his brother in law as he believed that he would be watching the match from another stand of the stadium which was safe. But he further took the view that, there is no reported English case decision where it has been established that whether a defendant owes any duty of care towards the claimant for not causing him a psychiatric injury by self inflicted injuries. The victims were taken to the nearest hospital by that neighbour. His widow claimed in nervous shock, saying that it had eventually led to his own death. His Lordship continued that, the court will not interfere with the decision given by Salmon LJ and accept that the defendant was liable for the boys accident which resulted in a psychiatric injury to the claimant. Unless and until there is clear evidence of having the close relationship or a close tie of love with the person (primary victims) who is injured or within the zone of danger, the court will not allow any claims for psychiatric injury brought by the secondary victims. Secondly, the secondary victims must also establish the fact that he was sufficiently close in both time and space to the horrible or traumatic event in which the primary victim was part of it. the purpose test (Banque Bruxelles Lambert SA v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd); the assumption . So, however, in the light of the above case decisions it has been obvious that the secondary victim must establish proximity of relationship or close tie of love and affection in order to establish a claim for psychiatric illness. foreseeability of psychiatric shock needed to be considered. [1981] 1 All ER 809. The English courts frequently face claims brought by the secondary victims; as a result great deal of attention has been drawn towards the secondary victims cases[14]. The outcome of this case is particularly note worthy. At one stage, the motor lorry started off by itself and went down the incline with a high speed where the claimant left her children playing. Appeal from White, Frost and others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and others HL 3-Dec-1998 No damages for Psychiatric Harm Alone The House considered claims by police officers who had suffered psychiatric injury after tending the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy. 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