Vernon v Bosley (No. 1)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 29 March 1996 |
| Date | 29 March 1996 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Lord Justice Evans and Lord Justice Thorpe
Damages - nervous shock - grief and bereavement not actionable heads
Grief and bereavement caused by another's negligence were not actionable heads of damages, but damages were recoverable for nervous shock, even if that was partly attributable to the pathological consequences of grief and bereavement.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment (Lord Justice Stuart-Smith dissenting) in dismissing an appeal brought by the defendant, Katherine Bosley, against the decision of Mr Justice Sedley on January 30, 1995 that Peter Vernon, was entitled to recover damages for mental illness. However, the Court of Appeal reduced the amount of damages awarded.
Mr Dermod O'Brien, QC and Mr Daniel Pearce-Higgins for the defendant; Mr David Blunt, QC and Mr Jonathan Marks, QC, for the plaintiff.
LORD JUSTICE STUART-SMITH, dissenting, said that on August 13, 1982 the plaintiff's daughters, Philippa, aged 7 and Theresa, aged 31/2, together with a third child, were being driven by the plaintiff's nanny, the defendant.
The defendant lost control of the car and it crashed down a 30ft bank into the fast flowing river which ran alongside the road. The defendant managed to escape but the children were trapped.
The plaintiff and his wife, who both worked nearby, were called to the scene by the police. When they arrived they watched the unsuccessful attempts of the rescue services to retrieve the car and save the children. It had never been disputed that the accident was caused by the defendant's negligence.
The plaintiff's case was presented on the basis that he suffered a severe degree of nervous shock and psychological trauma and subsequently developed a severe post traumatic stress disorder complicated by a severe grief reaction.
The defendant had throughout accepted that the plaintiff fell into that category of person who could be awarded damages resulting from the nervous shock of witnessing an accident or its immediate aftermath.
Her case was that the plaintiff did not suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, as opposed to a grief reaction, pathological grief disorder, which he would have suffered in any event if he had not witnessed the tragedy, but had been told of it at a distance.
The defendant further contended that the accident and its effect on the plaintiff was not causative of the collapse of his business but...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Zuber Bux v The General Medical Council
...to the court by way of objective unbiased opinion in relation to matters within his expertise.” 20 In Vernon v Bosley (expert evidence) [1998] 1 FLR 297 Thorpe LJ used a vivid metaphor to describe the expert's duty of independence: “The area of expertise in any case may be likened to a broa......
-
White and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and Others
...in the former case: see Hinz v. Berry [1970] 2 Q.B. 40, at 42 but compare the observations of Thorpe L.J. in Vernon v. Bosley [1997] 1 All E.R. 577, at 610, that grief constituting pathological grief disorder is a recognizable psychiatric illness and is recoverable. Only recognizable psyc......
-
Barber v Somerset County Council
...of the accident in which her son was killed, but her normal grief reaction had become abnormal as a result of later events. In Vernon v Bosley (No 1) [1997] 1 All ER 577, the majority in this court held that the whole of the claimant's psychiatric injury was the result of the accident in wh......
-
Meadow v General Medical Council
...at criminal trials. Identical standards apply to witnesses in family proceedings: see Re J [1991] FCR 193 @ 226 per Cazalet J. and Vernon v Bosley No. 1 [1997] 1 AER 577 @ 251 In this appeal there can be no doubt that Professor Sir Roy Meadow fell short of the required standards. He advance......
-
Delict
...spatial and sensory policy restrictions). See also White v Chief Constable of Yorkshire [1999] 1 All ER 1 (HL); Vernon v Bosley (1) [1997] 1 All ER 577 (CA). © Juta and Company (Pty) YeARBOOK OF SOUtH AFRicAN lAW574https://doi.org/10.47348/YSAL/v1/i1a10damages to disorders capable of object......