Ruth Hewitt provides an update on how & when secondary victims can run successful compensation claims
“Secondary victims” are those people who are not at risk of physical injury because of the defendant’s negligence, but do suffer a psychiatric injury as a result of witnessing the injury of a loved one. Alcock & others v The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1992) AC 310 is the leading case, arising out of the Hillsborough disaster. This case set out what a claimant must prove to recover compensation as a secondary victim:
- A close tie of love and affection with the primary victim;
- close proximity to the incident in time and place;
- perception of the event or its aftermath; and
- that the psychiatric illness that had been followed had been induced by the event.
When judgment was delivered in Alcock , it was only the third time that “nervous shock” had been considered by the House of Lords. It was acknowledged that this was because the number of cases brought by secondary
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