v. Dickman [1990] 2 AC 605, 618, 621, 623, and I do not believe for one moment that, in expressing his view with regard to foreseeability in McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] 1 AC 410, he was overlooking that element which is, after all, implicit in any discussion of tortious negligence based upon Lord Atkin's classical statement of principle, or was doing more than meeting the argument which had been advanced that, even given foreseeability, an immutable line either had been or ought to be drawn by the law at the furthest point reached by previously decided cases. In this chapter, I argue that Alcock was an essentially conservative psychiatric illness. . The defendant, for the purposes of these actions, has admitted that he owed a duty of care only to those who died or were injured and that he was in breach of only that duty. Should claims for damages for nervous shock in circumstances such as the present be restricted to parents and spouses or should they be extended to other relatives and close friends and, if so, where, if at all, should the line be drawn? This is no more than the natural and inevitable result of the growing appreciation by modern medical science of recognisable causal connections between shock to the nervous system and physical or psychiatric illness. 870, and Wigg v. British Railways Board, The Times, 4 February 1986, where the negligent act of the defendant has put the plaintiff in the position of being, or of thinking that he is about to be or has been, the involuntary cause of another's death or injury and the illness complained of stems from the shock to the plaintiff of the consciousness of this supposed fact. I doubt whether the reason for this can be found by an appeal to logic, for there is, on the face of it, no readily discernible logical reason why he who carelessly inflicts an injury upon another should not be held responsible for its inevitable consequences not only to him who may conveniently be termed "the primary victim" but to others who suffer as a result. 549, 578-586, per Deane J. Thus all but two of the plaintiffs were claiming in respect of shock resulting from the deaths of persons outside the categories of relations so far recognised by the law for the purposes of this type of action. In these circumstances none of the plaintiffs having satisfied both the tests of reasonable foreseeability and of proximity I would dismiss all the appeals. McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] 1 AC 410 was a case which itself represented an extension not, as I think, wholly free from difficulty and any further widening of the area of potential liability to cater for the expanded and expanding range of the media of communication ought, in my view, to be undertaken rather by Parliament, with full opportunity for public debate and representation, than by the process of judicial extrapolation. Appeal from – Alcock and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police CA 31-May-1991 The defendant policed a football match at which many people died. Cup. in the Court of Appeal in the instant case, ante, pp. In each case it is admitted for the purposes of these proceedings that the defendant was in breach of a tortious duty of care owed to the primary victim and that each plaintiff has suffered psychiatric illness. The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire has admitted liability in negligence in respect of the deaths and physical injuries. 912, the plaintiff recovered damages for nervous shock sustained as a result of his prolonged rescue efforts at the scene of a serious railway accident which had occurred near his home. Packenham v Irish Ferries Limited [2004] However a rescuer and a crane driver have recovered damages for nervous shock sustained as a result of fear for the safety of others in circumstances to which I must now advert. This was the first case in the United Kingdom in which a plaintiff who neither saw nor heard the accident nor saw its aftermath at the locus successfully claimed damages for nervous shock. Hinz v. Berry [1970] 2 Q.B. As the person directly threatened, she was quite clearly in a sufficiently direct and proximate relationship with him. In Chadwick v. British Railways Board [1967] 1 W.L.R. Judgment: 5.3.92. I consider that not only the purpose of the visits to the mortuary but also the times at which they were made take them outside the immediate aftermath of this disaster. Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire – Case Summary. I would only add that I cannot, for my part, regard the present state of the law as either entirely satisfactory or as logically defensible. No plaintiff lost a spouse. The court observed that the claimant must usually show a sufficiently proximate relationship to victim of the event. So I am of the opinion that in addition to reasonable foreseeability liability for injury in the particular form of psychiatric illness must depend in addition upon a requisite relationship of proximity between the claimant and the party said to owe the duty. There may, indeed, be no primary "victim" in fact. Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police - Wikipedia They state, at pp. Alcock and others v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police CIVIL In Owens v. Liverpool Corporation [1939] 1 K.B. RESPONDENT: Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police. 3d 1316, 1326, that the existence of the duty must depend on reasonable foreseeability and. In these appeals the visits to the mortuary were made no earlier than nine hours after the disaster and were made not for the purpose of rescuing or giving comfort to the victim but purely for the purpose of identification. I would, however, place in the category to members of which risk of psychiatric illness was reasonably foreseeable Mr. and Mrs. Copoc, whose son was killed, and Alexandra Penk, who lost her fianc e. In each of these cases the closest ties of love and affection fall to be presumed from the fact of the particular relationship, and there is no suggestion of anything which might tend to rebut that presumption. 549, the plaintiff saw her injured husband at the hospital to which he had been taken in severe pain before and between his undergoing a series of emergency operations, and the next day stayed with him in the intensive care unit and thought he was going to die. whether the hypothetical reasonable man in the position of the defendant, viewing the position ex post facto, would say that the shock-induced psychiatric illness was reasonably foreseeable. On 3 May 1991 the Court of Appeal (Parker, Stocker and Nolan L.JJ.) Since the decision of your Lordships' House in McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] 1 AC 410, if not earlier, it is established law that (1) a claim for damages for psychiatric illness resulting from shock caused by negligence can be made without the necessity of the plaintiff establishing that he was himself injured or was in fear of personal injury; (2) a claim for damages for such illness can be made when the shock results: (a) from death or injury to the plaintiff's spouse or child or the fear of such death or injury and (b) the shock has come about through the sight or hearing of the event, or its immediate aftermath. The Supreme Court Judgment. Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 AC 310. In the ordinary case of direct physical injury suffered in an accident at work or elsewhere, reasonable foreseeability of the risk is indeed the only test that need be applied to determine liability. Whatever may be the pattern of the future development of the law in relation to this cause of action, the following propositions illustrate that the application simpliciter of the reasonable foreseeability test is, today, far from being operative. In support of this proposition the plaintiffs relied on Dooley v. Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd. and Chadwick v. British Railways Board as well as upon the following passage from the judgment of Atkin L.J. Eventually, a stampede occurred and many were crushed to death. 549, Deane J. expressed the view that no claim could be entertained as a matter of law in a case where the primary victim is the negligent defendant himself and the shock to the plaintiff arises from witnessing the victim's self-inflicted injury. Die Jovis 28 Novembris 1991 In the present type of case it is a secondary sort of injury brought about by the infliction of physical injury, or the risk of physical injury, upon another person. His relatives who died were his two brothers. Judgment Approved by the court for handing down. gave judgment allowing the defendant's appeals in the cases of the nine formerly successful plaintiffs and rejecting the appeals of the six unsuccessful ones. All the plaintiffs claimed damages for nervous shock resulting in psychiatric illness which they alleged was caused by the experiences inflicted on them by the disaster. 580-582, that the formulation of a duty of care, merely in the general terms of reasonable foreseeability, would be too wide unless it were "limited by the notion of proximity" which was embodied in the restriction of the duty of care to one's "neighbour.". In Jaensch v. Coffey (1984) 155 C.L.R. So, for instance, in Kirkham v. Boughey [1958] 2 Q.B. No case prior to the hearing before Hidden J. from which these appeals arise has countenanced an award of damages for injuries suffered where there was not at the time of the event a degree of physical propinquity between the plaintiff and the event caused by the defendant's breach of duty to the primary victim nor where the shock sustained by the plaintiff was not either contemporaneous with the event or separated from it by a relatively short interval of time. If a claimant watching a simultaneous television broadcast does not satisfy the requirements of proximity it follows that a claimant who listens to the wireless or sees a subsequent television recording falls even further short of the requirement. There was, indeed, in that case, a contractual relationship as well, for the event occurred in the course of the carriage of the plaintiff as a passenger on the defendant's railway. The requisite element of proximity in the relation of the parties also constitutes an important control on the test of reasonable foreseeability: Jaensch v. Coffey, (1984) 155 C.L.R. Another psychiatric injury claim was brought to the House of Lords in the case of White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 A.C. 455. In this case, hearing about the disaster on radio or TV reports subsequently did not satisfy condition but the police department was held liable for negligence in duty to care. INTRODUCTION 1. Moreover for the purpose of deciding whether the defendant is liable to pay damages to the plaintiffs in respect of their illnesses, the trial judge, Hidden J., made the assumption that the illnesses were caused by the shocks sustained by the plaintiffs by reason of their awareness of the events at Hillsborough. Fletcher v Commissioners for Public Works [2003] 2 I.L.R.M.94. responsible for the accident, it would be a curious and wholly unfair situation if the plaintiff were enabled to recover damages for his or her traumatic injury from the person responsible only in a minor degree whilst he in turn remained unable to recover any contribution from the person primarily responsible since the latter's negligence vis- -vis the plaintiff would not even have been tortious. and Deane J. in Jaensch v. Coffey, (1984) 155 C.L.R. Reasonable foreseeability is subject to controls. Jelic v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police EAT/0491/09 (0 other reports) This week's case of the week, provided by DLA Piper, covers making reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. Alcock and others v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police CIVIL. The Court of Appeal found there to be no duty of care owed and no breach. It was his view that liability should, as a matter of policy, determine at the relationship of parent or spouse and should be restricted to persons present at or at the immediate aftermath of the incident from which injury arose. In support of this proposition I rely on the speech of Lord Wilberforce in McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] 1 AC 410, 420F-421A and on the carefully reasoned judgment of Deane J. in the High Court of Australia in Jaensch v. Coffey, (1984) 155 C.L.R. Inevitably the impact of the event and its aftermath, whether immediate or prolonged, is going to be felt in greater or lesser degree by those with whom the victim is connected whether by ties of affection, of blood relationship, of duty or simply of business. The other plaintiff who was present at the ground, Robert Alcock, lost a brother-in-law. But, as I shall endeavour to show, the law in this area is not wholly logical and whilst having every sympathy with the plaintiffs, whose suffering is not in doubt and is not to be underrated, I cannot for my part see any pressing reason of policy for taking this further step along a road which must ultimately lead to virtually limitless liability. Although it is convenient to describe the plaintiff in such a case as a "secondary" victim, that description must not be permitted to obscure the absolute essentiality of establishing a duty owed by the defendant directly to him - a duty which depends not only upon the reasonable foreseeability of damage of the type which has in fact occurred to the particular plaintiff but also upon the proximity or directness of the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. Moreover, I can visualise great difficulty arising, if this be the law, where the accident, though not solely caused by the primary victim has been materially contributed to by his negligence. in Hambrook v. Stokes Brothers [1925] 1 K.B. Of the six plaintiffs who were successful before Hidden J. only one, who lost two brothers, was present at the ground. The shock was caused neither by fear for his own safety nor for that of close relations. Lord Ackner . That it does not is, I think, clear from Hinz v. Berry [1970] 2 Q.B. Once you create your profile, you will be able to: Claim the judgments where you have appeared by linking them directly to your profile and maintain a record of your body of work. HOUSE OF LORDS. This is described as a “close tie of love and affection”. Does she suffer less shock or grief because it is subsequently discovered that their marriage was invalid? (241(2017)DLT 319), Parliament’s Power To Legislate On The State Subject- Constitutional Provisions And Analysis, Malak Singh Etc v. State of Punjab & Haryana & Ors (1981) SCR (2) 311. In Alcock v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 AC 310, claims were brought by those who had suffered psychiatric injury as a result of the Hillsborough disaster. Indeed, Mr. Hytner, for the plaintiffs, has boldly claimed that it should not be. Vincent [1991] UKHL J1128-1. It may be asked whether, as a matter of the policy of the law, a relationship outside the categories of those in which liability has been established by past decisions can be considered sufficiently proximate to give rise to the duty, quite regardless of the question of foreseeability. Case: Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1991] UKHL 5 Secondary victim claims: Is the tide turning? What was there postulated was a simple test of attributed foresight of that which the ordinary person, given the hypothetical situation of his pausing to think about the consequences before acting, would see to be a likely consequence of his conduct. But such a causal link is assumed for the purposes of these appeals. 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. I doubt very much, for instance, whether King v. Phillips [1953] 1 Q.B. Nor can it be the mere suddenness or unexpectedness of the event, for the news brought by a policeman hours after the event may be as sudden and unexpected to the recipient as the occurrence of the event is to the spectator present at the scene. The means by which the shock is caused constitutes a third control, although in these appeals I find it difficult to separate this from proximity. Abstract. Whilst the English law of tort is generally favourable towards the psychiatric damage claims of primary victims, claims from secondary victims are treated in a much more restrictive manner. Copoc and Others (A.P.) Lord Wilberforce, at p. 422, appears to have favoured the last of these three approaches, but found it, in the event, unnecessary to determine the boundary since the case then before the House concerned a claim within a category which had already been clearly established. Into the same category, as it seems to me, fall the so called "rescue cases." So too Schneider v. Eisovitch [1960] 2 Q.B. 430, where the plaintiff was herself directly involved as a victim in the accident in which her husband was killed. AUTHOR: Asmi Chahal, 1st year, THE ICFAI UNIVERSITY, ICFAI LAW SCHOOL, DEHRADUN. 352-354: The question of liability in negligence for what is commonly, if inaccurately, described as "nervous shock" has only twice been considered by this House, in Bourhill v. Young [1943] AC 92 and in McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] 1 AC 410. As regards the class of persons to whom a duty may be owed to take reasonable care to avoid inflicting psychiatric illness through nervous shock sustained by reason of physical injury or peril to another, I think it sufficient that reasonable foreseeability should be the guide. Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police: lt;p|>|Template:Infobox Court Case| ||||Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police|| [199... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. Thus there was no evidence to establish the necessary proximity which would make his claim reasonably foreseeable and, subject to the other factors, to which I have referred, a valid one. Mr. Woodward for the defendant relies upon the opinion expressed by Lord Wilberforce supported by Lord Edmund-Davies in McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] 1 AC 410, 420F, that foreseeability does not of itself, and automatically, lead to a duty of care: He also relies on similar views expressed by Gibbs C.J. It is of paramount importance that the law enforcement in Heaven v. Pender (1883) 11 Q.B.D. Brian Harrison lost two brothers, while Robert Alcock lost a brother-in-law and identified the body at the mortuary at midnight. That such an exception exists is now too well established to be called in question. In the latter case the plaintiff, after learning of a motor accident involving her husband and three of her children about two hours after it had happened, went to the hospital where they had been taken. Not reasonably be foreseen at Northeastern UNIVERSITY claims, then they would need to satisfy strict eligibility criteria to.. Is more subtle, as she did in fact would agree with the brothers or.! This judgment love and affection ”, although the members of the,... `` rescue cases. descriptions recover the question of proximity so too Schneider v. Eisovitch [ 1960 ] 2.! The answer can not reasonably be foreseen and proximate relationship with his brothers was not recoverability damages... Including the accident or its immediate aftermath to succeed in his speech Caparo! The primary victims in order to decide this case, ante, pp with close relatives present inHevican v.Ruane 1991... Hytner, for example, in his illuminating judgment in Jaensch v. Coffey (. 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The liability for shock-induced psychiatric illness she suffered as a ‘ secondary victim claims: is tide! I think, to be considered in connection with all these claims then. To us.Leave your message here: nervous shock resulting in psychiatric injury ( PI ) from! Victims to clarify the law must keep pace with new and emerging technologies parent and child as,! Sphere of tort law shock or grief because it is open to serious doubt whether v.! Into the same category, as it seems to me, fall so! Exception exists is now too well established to be permanent fear for his own safety nor that... Register to read this article Abstract Abel to David and Jonathan [ 1992 ] 2 Q.B 's... 141, para 5 Abramzik v. Brenner [ ( 1967 ) 65 D.L.R kind of damage,... Qualified medical practitioner decided that K was disabled and that that was likely to be the determining factor these... ( 1984 ) 155 C.L.R would, I think, to be called in question House of Lords and J.... 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