Tort

The second claimant was the wife of the first claimant. The husband had been subjected to a course of harassment by the first defendant in respect of their business dealings. The husband’s claim for harassment was allowed, but the wife’s was not because, while she had been alarmed and upset, she had not been the target of the conduct. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that the ability to bring a harassment claim extended beyond the targeted individual only to those other persons who were foreseeably, and directly, harmed by the course of targeted conduct of which complaint was made, to the extent that they could properly be described as victims of it. On that basis, the wife had established a cause of action for the statutory tort of harassment and she was awarded damages of £6,000.